WHO: 70% of health facilities out of service in Sudan

CAIRO - 12 March 2025: "The violence in Sudan continues, leading to humanitarian conditions described by the United Nations and international organizations as deplorable, and causing the destruction of infrastructure, including health facilities, in addition to targeting camps for displaced persons and refugees fleeing violence multiple times.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that humanitarian partners in North Darfur State, Sudan, confirmed that the health situation is extremely dire, especially in El Fasher, the state capital, and camps for displaced persons in the surrounding areas.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs added that the ongoing hostilities have caused waves of displacement, leading to the exhaustion of an already fragile health care system that is struggling to meet even the basic needs of people.

The UN office confirmed that more than 200 health facilities in El Fasher are not functioning, and that there is a severe shortage of medical personnel, essential medicines, and life-saving supplies. OCHA said that humanitarian partners are trying to provide medical supplies, but their efforts to deliver them are still hampered by insecurity and access restrictions.

OCHA once again appealed to the parties to the conflict to ensure safe, sustainable, and timely humanitarian access to reach people in need of life-saving support, stressing the need to protect civilians and meet their basic survival needs.

The World Health Organization reported that in various conflict-affected areas in Sudan, more than 70 percent of hospitals and health facilities are no longer functioning, leaving millions without health care.

The WHO added that the health system in Sudan has been under relentless attack. As of mid-February, the organization recorded nearly 150 attacks on health care in Sudan since the start of the war there, but the true figure may be much higher.

For her part, Kaja Kallas, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said that the war in Sudan has led to the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. She stated that the European Union supported all efforts aimed at ending the war and that it continues to work closely with international accountability mechanisms to bring the perpetrators of atrocities to justice.

The EU official indicated that the Union has allocated nearly 260 million euros in 2024 for the humanitarian response to help those in need in Sudan.

The Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Michael Fakhri, warned that in Sudan, the largest number of people in modern history are facing hunger and famine, stressing that starvation cannot be used as a weapon of war."