Sudan Health System Collapse and Disease Surge (2026)
Recent Developments
01January 2026: WHO said more than one third of health facilities in Sudan were non-functional and reported 201 verified attacks on healthcare causing 1,858 deaths and 490 injuries.
02April 2026: WHO reported 37% of health facilities remained non-functional and 217 verified attacks on healthcare had caused 2,052 deaths and 810 injuries since April 2023.
03June 2026: The Sudan Health Cluster warned that bridge funding was urgently needed to keep life-saving services running beyond 30 June 2026 after BHA funding was expected to end.
Interventions
- WHO and health partners are continuing emergency health support and service restoration efforts across Sudan, including efforts to keep facilities functioning and extend services to people in need.
- The Sudan Health Cluster is seeking urgent donor bridge funding and flexible emergency support to prevent closure or reduction of life-saving health services.
What Works
- Emergency health-system support that keeps clinics, hospitals, medicines, and staffing operational is the most direct way to reduce preventable deaths in conflict settings like Sudan.
- Bridge funding for health facilities and rapid restoration of services is critical when donor streams end, because service interruptions in conflict zones quickly reduce access to maternal care, trauma care, and outbreak response.
How to Help
- Donate to reputable humanitarian organizations supporting health care and emergency relief in Sudan, such as WHO partners, the Sudan Health Cluster, and major medical NGOs working in-country.
- Support organizations providing mobile clinics, emergency medicines, outbreak response, and maternal-child health services for displaced communities.
- Advocate for sustained humanitarian access and emergency funding by contacting elected representatives and urging support for Sudan relief operations.
Make an Impact
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Verified Organizations
Organizations Helping(22)
MSF’s strategy is to deliver *direct, fast, and independent* medical assistance in places where people are in immediate danger and routine health systems cannot function.[2][4][6] The organization emphasizes medical impartiality and neutrality, meaning it treats people according to need rather than nationality, politics, religion, or other status markers, and it relies on financial independence to reduce external influence over its work.[4][6] Operationally, MSF combines rapid emergency deployment with long-term field presence when crises become protracted.[1][4][6] Teams of clinicians, logisticians, epidemiologists, mental health specialists, and other staff adapt services to local conditions, often working alongside local personnel in highly insecure environments; MSF also uses public advocacy when it believes witness testimony and pressure are needed to improve access to care or address systemic barriers.[1][4][5][6]
UNHCR is mitigating flood risks in Rohingya refugee camps by pre-positioning humanitarian supplies such as tarpaulins, rope to secure shelters, sleeping mats, water purification tablets, and jerrycans ahead of the monsoon season to protect displaced populations from floods and landslides.
UNICEF’s strategy is to combine direct service delivery with system strengthening, using child-focused interventions that can work at scale and in crises. Its public materials emphasize low-cost, high-impact, and sustainable solutions across health, nutrition, education, WASH, and protection, rather than isolated one-off projects.[6][2] A distinctive part of UNICEF’s approach is that it works through governments and local, national, and global partners to build or improve public systems while also reaching children immediately in emergencies. In education, for example, UNICEF both creates temporary learning centers for displaced children and helps strengthen formal education systems; in health, it pairs vaccine procurement and immunization support with disease prevention and primary care.[8][2] UNICEF also uses an equity-centered model, prioritizing children who are out of school, living in conflict zones, affected by poverty, or excluded because of gender or disability. Its programs are designed to protect children’s rights while delivering measurable outcomes such as improved survival, learning, sanitation, and protection in both stable and emergency settings.[8][6]
Mercy Corps says it works alongside communities to provide rapid relief in disasters, manage the effects of conflict and climate change, and create lasting solutions so people can thrive. Its strategy is not limited to direct aid: it combines humanitarian response with longer-term development, governance, market, and resilience programming across more than 30 countries.[6] A distinctive feature of its model is that programming is organized around interconnected drivers of vulnerability, such as food insecurity, weak governance, social exclusion, and climate stress. In its peace and governance work, Mercy Corps explicitly uses a multi-level approach that addresses societal, community, and individual dynamics through social cohesion, behavior change, civil society strengthening, mediation, and evidence learning.[2] Mercy Corps also emphasizes flexible tools such as cash and voucher assistance, market development, and technology, which are intended to help local systems function rather than replace them. This suggests a theory of change focused on restoring agency and strengthening the systems people rely on, rather than only delivering one-time services.[6]
