MSF warns Sudan's healthcare system is near collapse amid aid cuts and war
Doctors Without Borders has warned that Sudan's healthcare system is nearing collapse as international aid funding falls and the war continues to drive violence and displacement. The medical charity said more than a third of the country's health facilities are now out of service, leaving patients with fewer places to turn for treatment. It said the strain is worsening across a country already facing a severe humanitarian emergency.
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The organisation said about 37% of Sudan's health facilities are nonoperational and that the United Nations response plan for the country is only 41% funded. It also said patients are being pushed toward a shrinking number of facilities as some areas experience intensifying violence and displacement. The warning was issued as the United Nations General Assembly was convening, and the charity urged governments to protect health funding and provide stopgap support for facilities at risk of closure.
MSF said the impact goes beyond hospitals and clinics. In Um Rakuba, a humanitarian affairs manager at an MSF hospital said food rations are shrinking and protection programmes are being dismantled, leaving refugees exposed and removing what he described as the last safety nets. The charity also linked some closures to the shutdown of the United States Agency for International Development, whose Sudan grants ended in June, and to a year-on-year reduction in aid from European institutions.
The warning matters because Sudan's war has already created one of the world's largest displacement and hunger crises. MSF said some 19.5 million people were facing crisis levels of hunger earlier this year, while the conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has killed at least 59,000 people and displaced about 14 million since it began in April 2023. In that context, the loss of health services can quickly deepen the wider humanitarian emergency and make routine care harder to access.
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The charity said the current funding squeeze is part of broader cuts to international humanitarian assistance. It said global humanitarian aid has fallen by 35.8% since last year, leaving agencies and local facilities under pressure to do more with less. MSF's head in Sudan said the organisation has been overwhelmed as funding for other aid efforts disappears, underscoring how dependent the response remains on external support.
What remains unclear is how many more facilities may close if funding does not improve, and whether donors will respond with new emergency financing. The immediate question is whether health services can be kept open long enough to prevent further deterioration in access to care. The situation is likely to remain closely tied to the war, displacement and the level of support pledged in the coming weeks.
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