Aid organizations caution that budget reductions are leading to the shutdown of numerous health clinics across Sudan.

This year, an extra three dozen healthcare facilities catering to over 400,000 individuals in Sudan are shutting down due to global aid reductions, exacerbating an already critical humanitarian crisis in a nation ravaged by more than three years of conflict, according to aid organizations on Tuesday.

The reductions impact a healthcare system that previously included 6,500 primary care centers and 300 public hospitals, which had already been severely compromised during the initial 18 months of warfare. By September 2024, the World Health Organization projected that as much as 70-80% of facilities in the most affected regions were either non-operational or barely functional.

Sudan descended into conflict in April 2023 as tensions between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) escalated into widespread violence throughout the nation. The conflict has resulted in at least 59,000 fatalities, displaced around 13 million people, and driven portions of the country into famine.

A growing number of aid organizations are withdrawing, leaving clinics without essential medications or financial support, compelling patients to embark on costly and perilous journeys for treatment, stated Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

“These reductions are eroding the scant capacity that remains, shutting down facilities, sending healthcare workers home, and disrupting supply chains for medicines and nutritional support. The system is already stretched beyond its limits," remarked Mesfin Teklu Tessema, senior technical health director for the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

Fewer healthcare facilities are operational as aid reaches a dwindling number of individuals

Mohammed Mahdi, IRC director for East Sudan, informed The Associated Press that funding cuts are leading to the closure of 36 IRC-supported facilities and sites, cutting off essential services for an estimated 473,700 individuals.

“A limited number of facilities are managing to stay open temporarily with alternative funding, but this interim support is only expected to last until the end of September,” Mahdi commented regarding facilities throughout Sudan.

Healthcare providers have struggled to secure alternative funding to sustain healthcare services after grants to numerous organizations in Sudan concluded in June, following the announcement of U.S. aid reductions last year, according to MSF. Some major European donors have also scaled back their financial contributions.

The Um Rakuba camp in Gedaref State in eastern Sudan, which accommodates about 17,000 displaced individuals, is currently supported by fewer than 10 aid organizations operating within and around the camp, a decrease from about 35 in 2021, as reported by MSF.

The MSF-supported hospital in that location “is now the only lifeline remaining” for both refugees and local residents, stated Fabrizio Locuratolo, MSF humanitarian affairs manager.

Threats of disease outbreaks nationwide

Ali Almohammed, MSF emergency health manager, cautioned that “serious disease outbreaks are already occurring” in multiple regions of Sudan. He informed the AP that measles has reached a “major outbreak level” in Darfur, with approximately 75% of measles cases involving unvaccinated individuals.

Sudan is also grappling with outbreaks of cholera and malaria.

Numerous efforts have been made to bring an end to the conflict, including peace negotiations. Most recently, the United States has urged the U.N. to impose sanctions on the warring factions as a means of encouraging them to reach a resolution to the hostilities.

Additional sources • AP