War in Sudan
On April 15, 2023, intense fighting broke out between the Sudanese military, or Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Khartoum, Sudan. The violence quickly spread across most of Sudan, killing and injuring thousands and forcing millions of people from their homes.
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams in Sudan are treating war-wounded patients with catastrophic injuries and providing humanitarian aid and medical care in refugee camps and displacement sites, where people are living in poor conditions and lack adequate health care and basic necessities. Nearly 12 million people have been displaced by the current conflict, including over 4 million who have fled to neighboring countries such as Chad and South Sudan.
Context
The health system in Sudan is severely weakened, with critical shortages of medical staff and supplies, and many hospitals damaged or non-functional. Disease outbreaks, including cholera and measles, are overwhelming fragile services.
Civilians face dire needs for maternal and child healthcare, trauma care, treatment for infectious diseases and malnutrition, safe water and sanitation, as well as mental health support and assistance to survivors of sexual violence.
Yet access to services remains heavily constrained by insecurity, bureaucratic barriers and limited funding.
Some key figures:
Figures as of mid-March 2026
- 33.7 million people in Sudan need humanitarian assistance (OCHA).
- Nearly 14 million people have been forcibly displaced – 9.1 million internally and 4,5 to neighbouring countries, mainly Chad and South Sudan (OCHA).
- 4,2 million children under 5, pregnant and breastfeeding women need treatment for acute malnutrition in 2026 (OCHA).
- More than 12 million people in Sudan, mostly women and girls, are at risk of GBV, a figure that has surged by 350 per cent since the conflict began.
- 37% of the health facilities are non-functional leaving a large segment of the population without access to essential healthcare (WHO).
- 2.9 billion USD has been requested through the 2026 Sudan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan to address the crisis; but only 15.2% of the funding has been met so far (OCHA).
- Since the conflict started in April 2023, the WHO has verified 213 attacks on healthcare, killing more than 2,036 health workers and patients, and injuring over 720 (WHO).
MSF's Response
Last updated: March 2025
Medical Activities
MSF teams provide surgical and emergency care, wound care, physiotherapy, maternity, nutrition and pediatric services, primary healthcare, routine and corrective vaccination campaigns, and psychological support.
Presence and Supported Health Facilities
MSF is present in 9 of Sudan's 18 states.
Our teams directly manage two hospitals and two clinics, and support 13 hospitals* and 17 primary healthcare centers.
*Most facilities are Ministry of Health (MoH) structures where MSF supports specific services and departments, except for Tawila, Um Rakuba, Gerne and Daba Naira, which are fully managed by MSF.
Water, hygiene, and humanitarian aid
In addition to medical care, MSF implements water, hygiene, and sanitation activities, including the construction of boreholes and latrines. The organization also distributes food and water in camps for displaced persons.
Since January 2025, MSF teams in Sudan has carried out more than:
outpatient consultations
emergency presentations
vaccinations
surgical interventions
inpatient therapeutic centre admissions
hospitalizations
victims of intentional physical violence
deliveries
mental health consultations
measles cases
cholera cases
sexual violence consultations
Mapping our operations
— Our staff in Sudan
Data as of end of March 2026
locally hired staff
international mobile staff
Our call for Sudan
All armed groups and those who exert influence over them MUST ENSURE that humanitarian aid can move freely throughout all regions of the country. The parties to the conflict continue to impose deliberate blockades to prevent the delivery of medical and humanitarian supplies to the areas where they are desperately needed, thus preventing populations from receiving the medical care they so urgently require.
Civilians, humanitarian workers, and healthcare facilities must be spared from the fighting. Bombing of healthcare facilities, deliberate harassment, and attacks on healthcare professionals MUST STOP.
The humanitarian response MUST IMMEDIATELY be scaled up to address the massive needs of the population and put an end to this suffering.
Learn more
.
The human cost of conflict and violence
The report, ‘A war on people – The human cost of conflict and violence in Sudan’ describes how both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their supporters are inflicting horrendous violence on people across the country. The war has wrought a catastrophic toll since fighting began in April 2023 with hospitals attacked, markets bombed, and houses razed to the ground.
.
Driven to oblivion
Driven to oblivion: the toll of conflict and neglect on the health of mothers and children in South Darfur reveals the number of maternal deaths in just two MSF-supported hospitals in South Darfur between January and August to be more than seven per cent of the total number of maternal deaths in all MSF facilities worldwide in 2023. A screening of children for malnutrition also found rates well beyond emergency thresholds.
MSF's response in border countries
The war in Sudan has sparked the world’s largest displacement crisis, with more than 7 million internally displaced in addition to over 4 million who have fled to other countries.
Our teams provide support for refugees and returnees in neighboring Chad and South Sudan, where many displaced people live in poor conditions with limited access to basic needs.
Make a donation with Payconiq
#1. Scan this code with your Payconiq App.
#2. Indicate the amount of your donation.
#3. Validate your donation.
By making a donation via Payconiq, your donation will be allocated to all Médecins Sans Frontières projects, where the needs are greatest.
