Sudan’s health system nears collapse as aid cuts close facilities, MSF warns
Doctors Without Borders says about 37 per cent of Sudan’s health facilities are out of service as war, displacement and funding cuts intensify pressure on remaining services.
Sudan’s healthcare system is nearing collapse as international aid cuts leave more than a third of the country’s health facilities out of service, Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, has warned.
MSF said about 37 per cent of facilities were non-operational, pushing more patients towards a shrinking number of providers as violence and displacement intensify in some regions. The organisation urged governments attending the United Nations General Assembly to protect health funding and provide emergency financing for facilities at risk of closing.
The UN response plan for Sudan is reportedly only 41 per cent funded. MSF also said about 19.5 million people faced crisis levels of hunger earlier this year, while food assistance and protection programmes were shrinking.
MSF linked the closures to the end of United States Agency for International Development grants in June and a significant year-on-year reduction in funding from European institutions. The supplied material does not independently establish the extent to which individual funding reductions caused specific facility closures.
The war between Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces began in April 2023. MSF said the conflict had killed at least 59,000 people and displaced about 14 million, figures attributed to the organisation’s report.
