South Sudan
Last updated: March 2026
Context
MSF has been present in what is today South Sudan since 1983 and remains one of the largest medical humanitarian actors in the country, currently operating in seven states and two administrative areas. In 2025, MSF provided more than 830,000 outpatient consultations, inpatient care for over 93,000 patients, including 12,000 surgeries, and performed regular critical referrals across the country.
MSF's priority remains to work constructively with all authorities to facilitate safe and timely humanitarian access, and we continue to call for arrangements that allow lifesaving assistance to reach affected communities. Ongoing conflict and displacement in Jonglei are further increasing the vulnerability of civilians, creating new and urgent humanitarian needs on top of already limited healthcare services. MSF also reminds all armed groups and political actors that they share the responsibility to protect civilians, humanitarian and medical personnel, and healthcare facilities.
Humanitarian situation is dire. Pregnant women can’t access safe delivery care, children are missing out on vaccinations, and displaced families are surviving without clean water or sanitation. Health services in South Sudan are stretched to breaking point. In all the locations in which MSF works, teams are confronted with the devastating impact on communities of a chronically underfunded health system. Many primary care facilities are non-functional with frequent stockouts of essential drugs, including malaria treatment, and chronic delays in staff payments.
Over half of South Sudan’s health facilities are non-functional. In some regions, there is no operational hospital for hundreds of kilometres. Displacement is also at the heart of this crisis. Since April 2023, over 1,2 million refugees and returnees have crossed into South Sudan, with little to no access to basic necessities like clean water, shelter, or healthcare. The interruption of health services increases the risk to the lives of children, pregnant women, and people living with chronic or life-threatening conditions.
The worsening humanitarian crisis in South Sudan needs urgent national prioritisation: populations face overlapping crises, and the current response is failing to meet the rising needs across the country. Conflict, large-scale displacement, flooding and disease outbreaks all contribute to further straining already stretched services. In 2025, in addition to regular projects, MSF opened 12 emergency projects in response to cholera, malaria peaks, flooding and displacement because of violence, compared with five in 2024. Since February/March, MSF is responding to four emergencies, related to conflict and mass displacement of population.
Our activities —
In January and February 2026
outpatient consultations
outpatient consultations for children under 5
emergency room consultations
surgeries
Deliveries assisted, including C-section
Antenatal care consultations
Children screened for malnutrition (MUAC)
Children treated for severe acute malnutrition (inpatient)
Patients treated for malaria
Patients treated for suspected cholera
Individual mental health consultations
Throughout 2024, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) ran 12 regular and five emergency projects in South Sudan, offering a range of services, including general and specialist healthcare, and mental health support.
We operate one of our largest assistance programmes worldwide in South Sudan, responding to the many health needs resulting from ongoing conflict, displacement, recurrent floods, and disease outbreaks.
All these issues are compounded by a marked decrease in international funding for humanitarian and development programmes, and the precarious state of the national healthcare system.
In 2024, it remained highly dangerous for humanitarian organisations working in South Sudan. During the year, MSF staff were killed inside their communities during intercommunal conflicts, and we had to suspend activities in some locations following attacks.
