“In Khartoum, in Port Sudan… wherever EMERGENCY has a clinic, we are caring for the children of Sudan.”

The realities of delivering care in conflict: Perspectives from EMERGENCY’s colleagues in Sudan

In April 2023, war broke out in Khartoum and quickly spread across Sudan.

With fighting particularly intense in Khartoum, Port Sudan became a safe haven for tens of thousands of displaced people – putting immense strain on the local health system and other essential infrastructure.

“I was in Port Sudan when the war broke out. This city has been less affected by the crisis other parts of Sudan, but of course, our lives have been fundamentally changed,” says T., Senior Medical Officer at EMERGENCY’s Paediatric Centre in Port Sudan. “Our relatives from other states are displaced. We don’t feel safe: we are always afraid war may come to Port Sudan.”

While the city has been spared by much of the active fighting, the consequences of war have reached here, too.

“The prices of even the most basic goods have skyrocketed and everywhere is completely overcrowded,” T. reports. “Many of the displaced people are being hosted in the houses and the schools, because there is nowhere else for them to go.”

The Paediatric Centre has remained open throughout, providing a lifeline to the children and families living in Port Sudan.

The Centre has also played a pivotal role supporting other facilities run by EMERGENCY in Sudan, such as the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery in Khartoum, where activities were reduced due to the consequences of war. Thanks to the Centre in Port Sudan, which has provided ongoing medical, logistical and personnel support, the hospital complex was able to open its own Paediatric Clinic in March 2024.

“With internet blackouts, severe disruptions to the electricity infrastructure, and intense fighting within and around the capital, our Salam hospital complex in Khartoum soon became largely cut off from the rest of Sudan,” says Matteo D’Alonzo, EMERGENCY’s Country Director in Sudan. “Port Sudan has been crucial to transport people and medicines into the country, and to organise our operations in the ever-changing war context.”

“Opening and operating a new clinic during war was not an easy task,” he continues. “During the siege of Khartoum, it was particularly difficult. For months, we relied on generators for electricity and waited for trucks with essential supplies and food to reach us. Some of our staff had been living in the hospital since the war began. But we have always found strength in our work, in supporting the nearby population.”

On a daily basis, children continue to arrive at EMERGENCY’s paediatric clinics malnourished, in need of treatment for serious gastrointestinal or respiratory diseases. Others present complex conditions, unable to access the care they need because of the country’s devastated health system.

“A one-year-old child came to us, already diagnosed with cerebral palsy. They had been displaced from another state,” T. says. “The condition can be difficult to manage in the best circumstances, but this child was delivered at home, in a war zone, struggling to take its first breaths. There were no health facilities that they could reach.”

For T., working at the Paediatric Centre has been a source of hope throughout the war: “What we do here is important to me: I am supporting my community. I am saving the lives of our children by being here and providing quality care throughout these difficult circumstances.”

Matteo concludes, “In Khartoum, in Port Sudan… wherever EMERGENCY has a clinic, we are caring for the children and the future of Sudan.”