CAIRO — An additional three dozen health facilities serving over 400,000 people in Sudan are closing this year as global aid budgets shrink, deepening the humanitarian crisis in a nation wracked by more than three years of conflict, aid agencies warned Tuesday.
These reductions hit a health system that previously comprised roughly 6,500 primary‑care facilities and 300 public hospitals, many of which were already devastated during the war’s first 18 months. By September 2024, the World Health Organization reported that 70‑80 % of clinics in the hardest‑affected regions were either shuttered or operating at minimal capacity.
Sudan descended into war in April 2023 after tensions between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted into nationwide fighting. The conflict has claimed at least 59,000 lives, forced some 13 million people from their homes and driven parts of the country into famine.
As more aid groups withdraw, clinics are left without essential medicines or cash, compelling patients to endure expensive and perilous travel to seek care, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
“These budget cuts are dismantling the few remaining services, shuttering clinics, furloughing health workers and severing supply chains for medicines and nutrition. The system is already beyond its breaking point,” said Mesfin Teklu Tessema, senior technical health director for the International Rescue Committee (IRC).
Mohammed Mahdi, IRC’s director for eastern Sudan, told the Associated Press that funding shortfalls are forcing the closure of 36 IRC‑supported health sites, affecting essential services for roughly 473,700 residents.
“A handful of clinics can remain open temporarily thanks to alternative funding, but this bridge is expected to end by September,” Mahdi added, referring to the situation across the country.
Health providers have been unable to secure the alternative financing needed to keep services running after many grants expired in June, following last year’s U.S. aid reductions, MSF said. Several major European donors have also curtailed their contributions.
The Um Rakuba camp in Gedaref State, eastern Sudan—a settlement for some 17,000 displaced individuals—is now supported by fewer than ten aid groups, down from roughly 35 in 2021, MSF reports.
The MSF‑run hospital in the camp has become “the sole lifeline” for refugees and locals, said Fabrizio Locuratolo, MSF’s humanitarian affairs manager, in the statement.
Ali Almohammed, MSF’s emergency health manager, cautioned that “serious disease outbreaks are already occurring” across multiple regions of Sudan. He told the AP that measles has reached a “major outbreak” in Darfur, with about 75 % of cases involving unvaccinated patients.
Sudan is also confronting outbreaks of cholera and malaria.
Numerous diplomatic efforts, including peace negotiations, have sought to end the war. Most recently, the United States called on the United Nations to impose sanctions on the warring factions in order to pressure them toward a negotiated settlement.