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Updated: 24 August 2023
On 15 April 2023, fighting broke out between the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces across most of Sudan. In just over three months of intense fighting, more than 3 million people have been forced to leave their homes to save themselves and their families from conflict. More than 2.1 million have been displaced by conflict, seeking refuge within Sudan. 
MSF works in 10 states in Sudan - Khartoum, Al-Jazeera, West Darfur, North Darfur, Central Darfur, South Darfur, Al-Gedaref, Blue Nile, White Nile and River Nile. Our teams provide a range of healthcare services like trauma care for war wounded, maternal and paediatric care and treatment for malnutrition. We also help healthcare facilities by supporting staff, medicines and other vital supplies to healthcare facilities. In the east and south of Sudan, MSF supports displaced people by providing healthcare, vaccinations and water and sanitation services.
Large numbers of people injured by violence
Thousands of people have been killed or injured during the heavy violence, particularly in Khartoum and Darfur. MSF teams are seeing large numbers of war-wounded patients with people injured by explosions and bullets.
MSF staff are treating people injured by the violence in three hospitals in Khartoum city and Omdurman. They are among the very few hospitals that remain open in the whole of the Khartoum city area. In two of these hospitals, as well as in El Fasher, North Darfur, MSF provides surgical care. We also support other facilities providing trauma care in Omdurman, northwest Khartoum and other parts of the country.
Hospitals on or near the frontlines can be overwhelmed when fighting is at its heaviest. The insecurity and consequent challenges in access can lead to shortages of staff and supplies and at times make it too difficult for patients and healthcare workers to reach facilities.
More and more people are displaced daily
There are millions of displaced people in Sudan and in neighbouring countries. The ongoing violence means more and more people are displaced each day. Sudan hosted large numbers of displaced people before the current conflict. Services were overstretched then, and the situation is even worse now.
Many camps are overcrowded, and the humanitarian health situation is dire. There are huge, unmet needs for healthcare, clean water and sanitation, shelter and food. These conditions increase the risk of disease outbreaks. In White Nile state, MSF is treating large numbers of patients with suspected measles complications, mostly children under 5. MSF and the Ministry of Health ran a limited vaccination campaign for children under two years but the situation remains alarming. MSF is also treating suspected measles patients in Blue Nile state and across the border in Renk in South Sudan. The rainy season has already started, and we are concerned about a rise in waterborne diseases, such as cholera, and the spread of malaria, which is endemic to the area.
As more people arrive, there is an urgent need to increase assistance and scale up vaccinations, nutritional support, shelter, food, access to clean water and sanitation in all areas where displaced people are seeking refuge.
Reduced access to healthcare for non-conflict-related conditions
The conflict has weakened an already fragile health system, affecting people’s ability to receive treatment for health conditions. For example, there are shortages of medicines for chronic diseases and too few functioning facilities for pregnant women to give birth.
Although MSF provides maternal health care, including emergency obstetric surgery, in two hospitals in Sudan – one in Khartoum and one in El Fasher, North Darfur – the needs of people across the country remain immense.
Across the country's borders, MSF teams are supporting people who fled the conflict in South Sudan, Chad and the Central African Republic.
The needs are immense and we need your help. Your generosity will help our teams provide lifesaving medical support in Sudan and neighbouring countries.
More than 358,000 people have sought refuge in camps in eastern Chad but conditions there are entirely inadequate
![MSF logo and stethoscope [© Sebastian Bolesch]](https://msf.or.ke/sites/default/files/styles/news_page_244x155/public/msfimages/news/msf169397_medium.jpeg?itok=FtmmOQc8 "MSF logo and stethoscope [© Sebastian Bolesch]")
Visa applications for emergency staff have been pending for more than eight weeks
More than 140,000 people, fleeing from Khartoum, have arrived in White Nile state.
MSF has treated over 1,600 war wounded patients in Khartoum since the conflict began and our intentions are to continue to do this. However, the security situation has deteriorated so dramatically over the past few weeks that our presence in the Turkish Hospital is now in question.
Last week, up to 286 children were taken care of in the wards of the Adré paediatric hospital where MSF teams work - by comparison, around fifty children were being treated at the same time last year.
For Ethiopian refugees like Salim* and Qamar*, who had already experienced escaping violence in their homeland, their journey from Khartoum to east Sudan was fraught with risks. They recounted the strenuous details of their journey with their four children after arriving at their second resettlement in camp in East Sudan, where MSF is providing medical and emergency support
This vaccination campaign against measles and other diseases is part of the emergency response launched by the medical organization in the town of Birao, in northern Central African Republic, where refugees from Sudan have been relocated.
Since the start of the fighting in Sudan, MSF and Ministry of Health staff have treated over 1,000 war wounded patients at the hospital MSF supports in North Darfur. Here, Mohammed Alfa-qeeh – our project coordinator in El Fasher – describes the current situation in the city
Updated: 24 August 2023
On 15 April 2023, fighting broke out between the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces across most of Sudan. In just over three months of intense fighting, more than 3 million people have been forced to leave their homes to save themselves and their families from conflict. More than 2.1 million have been displaced by conflict, seeking refuge within Sudan.
MSF works in 10 states in Sudan - Khartoum, Al-Jazeera, West Darfur, North Darfur, Central Darfur, South Darfur, Al-Gedaref, Blue Nile, White Nile and River Nile. Our teams provide a range of healthcare services like trauma care for war wounded, maternal and paediatric care and treatment for malnutrition. We also help healthcare facilities by supporting staff, medicines and other vital supplies to healthcare facilities. In the east and south of Sudan, MSF supports displaced people by providing healthcare, vaccinations and water and sanitation services.
Large numbers of people injured by violence
Thousands of people have been killed or injured during the heavy violence, particularly in Khartoum and Darfur. MSF teams are seeing large numbers of war-wounded patients with people injured by explosions and bullets.
MSF staff are treating people injured by the violence in three hospitals in Khartoum city and Omdurman. They are among the very few hospitals that remain open in the whole of the Khartoum city area. In two of these hospitals, as well as in El Fasher, North Darfur, MSF provides surgical care. We also support other facilities providing trauma care in Omdurman, northwest Khartoum and other parts of the country.
Hospitals on or near the frontlines can be overwhelmed when fighting is at its heaviest. The insecurity and consequent challenges in access can lead to shortages of staff and supplies and at times make it too difficult for patients and healthcare workers to reach facilities.
More and more people are displaced daily
There are millions of displaced people in Sudan and in neighbouring countries. The ongoing violence means more and more people are displaced each day. Sudan hosted large numbers of displaced people before the current conflict. Services were overstretched then, and the situation is even worse now.
Many camps are overcrowded, and the humanitarian health situation is dire. There are huge, unmet needs for healthcare, clean water and sanitation, shelter and food. These conditions increase the risk of disease outbreaks. In White Nile state, MSF is treating large numbers of patients with suspected measles complications, mostly children under 5. MSF and the Ministry of Health ran a limited vaccination campaign for children under two years but the situation remains alarming. MSF is also treating suspected measles patients in Blue Nile state and across the border in Renk in South Sudan. The rainy season has already started, and we are concerned about a rise in waterborne diseases, such as cholera, and the spread of malaria, which is endemic to the area.
As more people arrive, there is an urgent need to increase assistance and scale up vaccinations, nutritional support, shelter, food, access to clean water and sanitation in all areas where displaced people are seeking refuge.
Reduced access to healthcare for non-conflict-related conditions
The conflict has weakened an already fragile health system, affecting people’s ability to receive treatment for health conditions. For example, there are shortages of medicines for chronic diseases and too few functioning facilities for pregnant women to give birth.
Although MSF provides maternal health care, including emergency obstetric surgery, in two hospitals in Sudan – one in Khartoum and one in El Fasher, North Darfur – the needs of people across the country remain immense.
Across the country's borders, MSF teams are supporting people who fled the conflict in South Sudan, Chad and the Central African Republic.
The needs are immense and we need your help. Your generosity will help our teams provide lifesaving medical support in Sudan and neighbouring countries.
