Sudan

In the Darfur region, where the violence has taken an ethnic dimension, between 70 to 80 percent of health facilities are no longer functioning due to the lack of critical supplies and medical staff. There is a widespread shortage of critical supplies such as vaccines, nutrition commodities, and HIV medications, as well as a poor disease surveillance system. At the same time, overcrowded and dire conditions in gathering sites and camps exacerbate the risk of disease outbreaks, while people with chronic conditions are struggling to access the care and medicines they need to survive. 

MSF teams are providing primary and secondary health care for patients in various parts of Sudan in existing health care facilities in towns, cities, and camps. To support patients in remote places or places where health facilities have closed, MSF mobile clinic teams are providing primary health care and supporting the referral system to ensure that critical patients have access to secondary health care. 

In camps for refugees and internally displaced people, especially in the south and east, and in gathering sites that lack access to health care, humanitarian assistance remains inadequate. In camps, people are living without proper access to water and sanitation, and in unsanitary conditions, fueling possible outbreaks.

Places where MSF works in Sudan:

• Khartoum city: Bashair Teaching Hospital, Turkish Hospital, Shaheed Wadaatallah primary health care center, Kaiakla.
• Khartoum north: Umdawanban and Albanjadeed Hospital.
• Omdurman: Al Nao Hospital, Al Saudi Maternity Hospital, and Al Buluk Maternity.
• Al Jazirah state: Wad Madani Teaching Hospital, Al Thowra Mobi primary health care center.
• White Nile state: Kashafa Hospital, Alagaya and Um Sangour primary health care centers, Khor Ajwal.
• Al Gedaref state: Tanideba camp and Um Rakuba camp, emergency response for newly displaced people.
• Kassala state: emergency response for newly displaced people (concluded 10-week emergency intervention in March).
• West Darfur state: El Geneina Teaching Hospital, Kreinik hospital.
• North Darfur state: South Hospital and Babiker Nahar Pediatric Hospital in El Fasher and Zamzam camp primary health care clinic, with a second outpatient department and 50-bed field hospital due to open in the coming days, which will increase to 150 beds over the coming weeks; Sortony primary health care center.
• Central Darfur state: Rokero Hospital and Umo primary health care center in Jebel Marra and Zalingei Teaching Hospital.
• South Darfur state: Kalokitting, Dili and Torong Tonga in South Jebel Marra; Kass Rural Hospital, Nyala Teaching Hospital, Wahda Primary Hospital, and Otach and Kalma Biliel camps outside Nyala.
• Blue Nile state: Ad-Damazine Teaching Hospital and mobile clinics.
• Port Sudan: Mobile clinics and water and sanitation activities.

Malnutrition  

MSF teams are screening for malnutrition (mid-upper arm circumference, or MUAC) in children under five years old in health care facilities where we work across Sudan. MSF teams are also running inpatient therapeutic feeding centers at the Turkish Hospital and Umdawanban Hospital in Khartoum; Tanideba and Um Rakuba refugee camps in Al Gedaref state; Rokero in Central Darfur state; and we support the inpatient therapeutic feeding center in El Geneina Teaching Hospital as well as in Kerenik, West Darfur, and Al Kashafa Hospital in White Nile state. At Ad-Damazine Teaching Hospital in Blue Nile state, MSF teams are running both an inpatient therapeutic feeding center and an outpatient therapeutic feeding program.

In Zamzam camp in North Darfur, MSF has an outpatient therapeutic feeding center at the primary health care clinic we run in the camp and will open a second one along with a 50-bed field hospital in the coming days to help address the vast needs there. In January, MSF carried out a rapid nutritional assessment of 400 households that found a crude mortality rate of 2.5 deaths per 10,000 people per day in the camp, which is more than double the threshold of a humanitarian emergency. 

Note: MSF does not screen all children; only those with suspected malnutrition.

Disease outbreaks

MSF teams provide primary health care, vaccination campaigns, screening, and rapid testing for communicable diseases. We also support the Ministry of Health in its response to emerging and increasing needs. MSF teams have prepared for and are responding to the cholera outbreak in places including Alban Jadeed Hospital, Umdawanban Hospital, Bashair Teaching Hospital, and the Turkish Hospital in Khartoum; as well as in Al Gedaref, Al Jazeera, White Nile, and Blue Nile states.  

Surgery and emergency care

MSF teams carry out surgical and emergency interventions in the cities of Khartoum and Omdurman in Khartoum state, and El Fasher in North Darfur state.

Our teams are working in hospitals throughout Sudan, as well as providing support to Ministry of Health staff and volunteers. We provide and support emergency care and surgical interventions including trauma, obstetric, and general surgeries; donate essential items including medical supplies, generators, and fuel; provide incentives for Ministry of Health staff; rehabilitate and repurpose facilities; train hospital staff; and support triage, water, and sanitation systems.

Mental health

MSF teams are responding to the immense mental health needs by providing psychological first aid and mental health care to people fleeing the fighting. Mental health care is included in mobile clinic services, as well as sexual and reproductive health care in places where it is currently possible within the limits of our capacity.

We provide mental health counseling to refugees at Um Rakuba and Tanideba camps, which host mostly Ethiopian refugees, as well as host communities. Furthermore, MSF teams at Al Thowra Mobi primary health care clinic in Al Jazirah state and Al Kashafa Hospital in White Nile state are providing mental health support and sexual and reproductive health care. Our teams are also providing sexual and reproductive health care in Umdawanban, and in Khartoum state, we provide care for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence at Shaheed Wadaatallah primary health care center. Mental health and sexual and reproductive health services are also provided at El Geneina Teaching Hospital in West Darfur and Wad Madani Teaching Hospital in Al Jazirah state.

Medical supplies and other support

The destruction and looting of health facilities, acute shortages of utilities and medical supplies, and under-resourced health staff overworking without pay, are all factors increasing the overwhelming pressure on a health system struggling to cope with emerging medical needs that are exacerbated or caused by the conflict.

MSF is supporting Sudan's health system with medical and logistical donations, rehabilitation of damaged and looted health facilities, and by paying incentives to Ministry of Health staff, many of whom have not been paid since the start of the conflict. Many facilities face major shortages of medical supplies and, in some cases, lack essential utilities such as water, electricity, and fuel to continue functioning properly. Insecurity, delays, and the refusal of authorities to issue permits to transport supplies further exacerbate these shortages. 

Read more about our response to the war in Sudan >