Sudan’s health system on brink of collapse after aid cuts, MSF warns

Sudan’s fragile health system is facing a deep crisis as international aid funding dwindles, according to a warning issued by Doctors Without Frontiers (MSF). The medical charity reported on Tuesday that patients are being pushed toward a shrinking number of operational facilities as the country's ongoing war intensifies.

According to MSF, about 37 percent of Sudan’s health facilities are out of service. Meanwhile, the United Nations' response plan for the country is only 41 percent funded. The charity links these closures to the conclusion of grants from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in June, alongside year-on-year reductions in international assistance from European institutions. Globally, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recorded a 21.3 percent fall in international aid in 2025 compared to the previous year, while MSF notes that global humanitarian aid has dropped 35.8 percent since last year.

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"War is driving Sudan's needs; funding cuts are shrinking the response."

Muhammad Ibrahim, head of MSF in Sudan, via BBC

Ibrahim stated that the organisation has been overwhelmed as funding for other aid efforts disappears, shifting intense pressure onto the remaining facilities. In the western region of Darfur, emergency co-ordinator Sebastián Traficante explained that patients are forced to make longer, more expensive, and dangerous journeys, often arriving at hospitals in much more serious conditions only to find them full. MSF reported that admissions to its supported facilities in central Darfur jumped 22.5 percent between January and April 2026 compared to the same period in the previous year. In May alone, 45 healthcare centres in the area stopped receiving funding.

The funding shortage has triggered closures across other regions. In Gedaref state, the Tanedba camp—which hosts 18,400 displaced people—lost its maternity and surgical wards after a humanitarian organisation departed in June. MSF now operates an emergency room at the camp, but pregnant women requiring surgical delivery must travel three hours to the nearest city. At the nearby Um Rakuba camp, which hosts approximately 17,000 people primarily consisting of women and children, the number of active aid agencies has fallen from 35 in 2021 to fewer than 10. Fabrizio Locuratolo, a humanitarian affairs manager at an MSF hospital in Um Rakuba, noted that food rations are shrinking and protection programmes are being dismantled.

"If support does not increase, more patients will face longer journeys, fewer treatment options and greater risk of arriving too late for care."

Liz Harding, MSF’s UK humanitarian representative, via BBC

Compounding the healthcare crisis are ongoing attacks on medical personnel. MSF reported that 1,620 people were killed in 2025 in attacks on medical facilities, accounting for 82 percent of all global deaths resulting from attacks on healthcare worldwide. Beyond the medical sector, the United Nations reports that more than 19.5 million people are experiencing crisis levels of food insecurity, with over five million facing emergency levels of hunger. More broadly, the conflict that erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed at least 59,000 people, displaced about 14 million, and left more than 33 million people needing medical assistance.

Violence persists on the ground despite the expected arrival of international diplomats in Khartoum for consultations aimed at ending the civil war. Reports from North Kordofan state on Tuesday say at least 11 people have been killed in a drone attack on the army-controlled town of Umm Ruwaba. According to medical sources, the projectile struck a crowded courtyard in a court complex.

In response to the escalating emergency, MSF has urged world leaders gathering at the United Nations General Assembly in New York to protect health funding and provide stopgap financing for facilities at immediate risk of closure.