By Bunmi Yekini
As Sudan’s devastating conflict enters its third year on April 15, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has issued a stark warning about the deepening humanitarian catastrophe, with 60% of the country’s population, roughly 30 million people, now in urgent need of aid.
MSF says the war between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) has left civilians bombed, besieged, displaced, and deprived of food, medical care, and basic services. The situation is now compounded by mass displacement, widespread starvation, and the collapse of the healthcare system.
“The warring parties are not only failing to protect civilians, they are actively compounding their suffering,” said Claire San Filippo, MSF Emergency Coordinator. “Wherever you look in Sudan, you will find needs, overwhelming, urgent, and unmet. Millions are receiving almost no humanitarian assistance, medical facilities and staff remain under attack, and the global humanitarian system is failing to deliver even a fraction of what’s required.”
MSF reports that over 13 million people have been displaced by the conflict, many multiple times. Nearly 9 million remain displaced within Sudan, while almost 4 million have fled to neighboring countries. In overcrowded camps and makeshift shelters, basic necessities like food, water, and healthcare remain scarce.
In areas like Darfur, health data from MSF-supported programs reveal alarming levels of child malnutrition. In Tawila, North Darfur, 35.5% of children under five were found to suffer from global acute malnutrition, and 7% from severe acute malnutrition during a food distribution in December 2024.
At the same time, Sudan faces overlapping health emergencies. “Outbreaks of measles, cholera and diphtheria are spreading, driven by poor living conditions and disrupted vaccination campaigns,” said Marta Cazorla, MSF Emergency Coordinator. “Mental health support and care for survivors of sexual violence remain painfully limited.”
Read Also:Horror in North Darfur: RSF Offensive on Zamzam Camp Kills Aid Workers, Displaces Thousands
The World Health Organization reports that over 70% of health facilities in conflict-affected areas are either non-functional or barely operational. Since April 2023, MSF alone has recorded more than 80 violent incidents targeting its staff, clinics, vehicles, and supplies.
Muhammad Yusuf Ishaq Abdullah, an MSF health promotion officer in Tawila, North Darfur, recalled the destruction of a local hospital: “Buildings were destroyed, even beds were looted, and medicines were burned to the ground. From afar, it looked like a hospital, but when you entered it, it was a shelter for snakes and grass.”
MSF reiterated that medical facilities and personnel are not targets and demanded that the warring parties stop attacks on healthcare infrastructure.
With the rainy season fast approaching, MSF warns that access will worsen unless urgent action is taken to repair roads and bridges, open more border crossings, and lift restrictions on humanitarian aid delivery.
“The rainy season threatens to make an already catastrophic situation even worse — severing supply routes, flooding entire regions, and cutting off people just as the hunger gap peaks and malnutrition and malaria spike,” the organization stated.
MSF is calling on governments, donors, and UN agencies to ensure swift and unhindered humanitarian access, especially to remote and hardest-hit communities.
“The people of Sudan have endured this horror for two years too long; they cannot and should not wait any longer,” the organization declared.