EMERGENCY Has Remained in Sudan Through Two Years of War

Two years have passed since 15 April 2023, when a war broke out in Sudan fought between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). EMERGENCY has remained continuously operational, even in the capital Khartoum.

Since Khartoum was recaptured by the SAF in recent weeks, fighting has ceased in the city. EMERGENCY’s projects in Khartoum are the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery and the Outpatient Paediatric Clinic. Since January, the siege on the city made it impossible to bring in supplies, equipment or new personnel to enable staff rotation. As a consequence, the Salam Centre had been forced to suspend cardiac surgeries, but continued to offer an emergency medicine service and paediatric activities, an important service for the population in a city where less than 10% of health facilities are still operational.

“After the capture of Khartoum, the roads to enter and exit the area where our hospital is located were finally reopened,” says Elena Giovanella, anaesthesiologist and Medical Coordinator of the Salam Centre. “It was impossible to enter Khartoum safely, so I, along with eight colleagues, had to wait for months before we were able to reach the city and relieve the team that was stuck here due to the fighting. The hospital’s supplies were also blocked until ten days ago, when six trucks – carrying supplies including medicines, essential equipment, a generator, and food – finally arrived at the Salam Centre. Many of our Sudanese colleagues who were displaced are also returning. We can finally restart all our activities.”

In the last few days, fuel and commodity prices have fallen, and electricity and internet connectivity have been restored.

“In the last four months, on top of three months in 2024, the energy requirements of the Salam Centre have been fulfilled by generators. We have incurred huge expenses due to the major increases in the cost of fuel. But today, fuel costs half as much as last month,” says Matteo D’Alonzo, EMERGENCY’s Country Director in Sudan. “Throughout the war, we have also supported the population living near the hospital by distributing safe drinking water.”

In Darfur, meanwhile, fighting continues to cause deaths, injuries and displacement. In Nyala, where EMERGENCY operates a Paediatric Clinic, the population people has lived under curfew with hardly any electricity or connectivity for two years. Basic necessities are scarce in a city whose population has quadrupled due to the arrival of displaced people from other areas of the country.

“At our Paediatric Centre, we see young patients arriving in increasingly poor condition,” says Laura Ena, nurse and Medical Coordinator of EMERGENCY’s Paediatric Centre in Nyala. “Poor nutrition and a lack of safe drinking water are leading to more and more cases of gastroenteritis, infections, severe malnutrition and anaemia. I never saw children in such serious conditions before the start of this war. We are open seven days a week and 24 hours a day to meet everyone’s needs.”

Since 15 April 2023, over 12 million people have fled their homes, of whom more than eight million are internally displaced (half of these are children); more than three million people are refugees and returnees who have crossed international borders to neighbouring countries, mainly Chad, Central African Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya and South Sudan.

Sudan remains one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, with 30.4 million people in need of humanitarian aid (IOM). To date, there have been over 100 attacks on health facilities in the country, 80% of which are partially functional (WHO). Around 70% of the population cannot access any health services.

Today, 26 million people – half the population – are facing high levels of acute food insecurity. Sudan is among the top four most food insecure countries in the world.

“EMERGENCY has never left the country. In Khartoum, we have long been the only international NGO present and operational, above all thanks to the dedication of our Sudanese colleagues,” D’Alonzo concluded. “Now that fighting in the capital has stopped, we hope for a more general improvement in security so that the Sudanese people can begin returning to their homes and rebuilding.”

EMERGENCY is present in Khartoum with the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery and an Outpatient Paediatric Clinic; in Port Sudan with a Paediatric Centre; in Nyala, South Darfur, with a Paediatric Centre; and in Atbara, Kassala and Gedaref, with satellite cardiology clinics.