Where We Work

Sudan

Despite heavy fighting throughout Sudan, our staff members are continuing to provide services and support where it is safe for them to do so in Blue Nile, South Kordofan and three states in Darfur. We also are expanding services regionally, deploying mobile medical units and building on our existing programs in Sudan, the Central African Republic, Chad and South Sudan to help internally displaced people and refugees forced to flee across borders.

For more information, watch our Response Update Video or view our latest Situation Reports, found below.

International Medical Corps has worked in Sudan since 2004. We offer gender-based violence (GBV), healthcare, mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), nutrition, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programmes, often integrating them with existing services in the country to achieve more effective outcomes.

We currently provide these services in 67 health facilities to residents across eight states of Sudan, including Al Jazeera, Blue Nile, Central Darfur, Khartoum, Sennar, South Darfur, South Kordofan and West Darfur. The ongoing humanitarian crisis in Sudan has claimed thousands of lives, uprooted millions of people, disrupted already fragile healthcare systems and prevented families from returning to their homes. Despite limited access and chronic instability, in 2023, we provided humanitarian assistance to more than 1.6 million people.

Once the largest and most geographically diverse nation in Africa, Sudan split into two separate countries in July 2011, after the people of what is now South Sudan voted for independence.

Today, Sudan is experiencing significant turmoil and conflict. The fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and paramilitary groups has led to a significant number of casualties and has disrupted the lives of millions. Humanitarian needs in Sudan have reached record highs, with about half of the population—24.8 million people—requiring humanitarian assistance. Millions remain in displacement camps, relying almost entirely on humanitarian aid for essential services, while funding constraints continue to affect the ongoing humanitarian response.

 

Updates from the Field: Sudan

Our Sr. Director of International Programmes provides an update on the crisis in Sudan.

Population

50.4 million

Life expectancy

66/70 years

male/female

Median age

19.3 years

The Challenges

Weak Health System

More than 70% of health facilities are currently nonfunctional

Inadequate Water

17.3 million people lack access to basic drinking water

Poor Nutrition

More than 2.9 million children are acutely malnourished

Our Response

Healthcare

International Medical Corps supports and operates in 67 health facilities across Sudan, delivering essential health services, strengthening health systems and providing resources to deploy skilled health workers to those facilities. Essential health services include treatment and prevention of disease, along with reproductive healthcare, health education, immunisation, child healthcare and surveillance, clinical management and of rape and referrals to emergency- and secondary-level health services, including surgery and obstetric care.

Reproductive health services include antenatal care (ANC), clean and safe deliveries attended by skilled birth attendants, postnatal care (PNC), newborn care and family planning. We help children by providing integrated management of childhood illnesses, immunisations and nutrition screening.

In 2023, despite limited access and chronic instability, we provided humanitarian assistance to more than 1.6 million people. During the same period, we provided 667,193 outpatient consultations to those in need, including thousands of patients treated for acute respiratory infections, diarrhoea and malaria, which continue to be the leading causes of disease in our program areas.

We also reached women with comprehensive reproductive health services, including 17,219 women who received ANC, 8,679 who delivered babies assisted by skilled healthcare personnel and 8,393 who received PNC. In addition, we immunised 36,293 children, including 24,829 vaccinated against measles. We have also engaged with local organisations across Sudan to build their capacity and enable them to deliver health education for 85,184 people on critical topics such as immunisations; infectious diseases; malaria and measles transmission, prevention and control; ANC; birth preparedness and healthy delivery; PNC; and family planning.

Health Systems Strengthening

We support efforts by Sudan’s Ministry of Health (MoH) to promote a stronger healthcare delivery system. Our activities include supporting service delivery, providing information management, rehabilitating health facilities, deploying healthcare workers, and providing medicines and medical supplies. We support MoH efforts around disease control, disease surveillance and immunisation, and train MoH staff on emergency preparedness.

Nutrition

International Medical Corps provides nutrition services in Sudan to those most vulnerable to hunger—including children under 5, pregnant women and nursing mothers. We operate 59 outpatient therapeutic programmes (OTPs), 59 target supplementary treatment centres (TSFPs) and six stabilisation centres for malnourished children with life-threatening medical complications. Of the 191,751 people we screened for malnutrition in 2023, 76% were children under 5. Of those, thousands were malnourished. We treated 5,577 people in OTPs and 5,845 in TSFPs, including 4,496 children under 5 and 1,349 pregnant or nursing mothers. Working with local partners and community volunteers, we also provide awareness sessions for mothers on the importance of breastfeeding, dietary diversification using local foods, safe food preparation and nutritional support for mothers and children. In 2023, we reached 66,543 people with nutrition education.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

Many communities in Sudan experience sub-standard water quality and insufficient quantity—17.3 million people lack access to basic drinking water, while about 24 million lack access to proper sanitation facilities. Influxes of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) frequently strain host communities and camp water-collection and sanitation systems. By expanding access to clean water, creating proper waste-disposal systems and providing safe sanitation facilities, we restore and protect healthy living conditions.

In Sudan, we implement WASH activities as part of health and nutrition interventions. These include:

  • promotion of and education about good hygiene practices;
  • creation of waste disposal facilities and safe practices;
  • chlorination, rehabilitation and maintenance of water points;
  • construction and rehabilitation of drainage canals and latrines; and
  • improvement of WASH, as well as infection prevention and control, in health facilities.

In 2023, we constructed or rehabilitated 12 water points for IDPs and vulnerable host communities and reached 57,791 people with information about the need for safe hygiene practices and other WASH activities.

Mental Health and Psychosocial Support

International Medical Corps provides MHPSS services through an integrated approach, ensuring accessibility, non-stigmatization and cultural acceptability. Our MHPSS program aims to improve mental health, enhance resilience and well-being, build social support networks and empower affected populations, including children and youth. Our MHPSS services include psychological support, mental health case management, psychological first aid (PFA) and group psychosocial support (PSS), including the WHO’s Self-Help Plus (SH+) intervention. Community-based PSS activities include community outreach, mental health awareness and psychoeducation. International Medical Corps also provides training for key stakeholders, including general health providers, MHPSS staff, community leaders, local partners and staff from other humanitarian agencies. Training topics include the WHO’s mhGAP Humanitarian Intervention Guide (mhGAP-HIG), SH+, PFA, basic concepts of MHPSS, and detection and safe referrals of mental health cases. International Medical Corps also actively contributes to the establishment and strengthening of MHPSS coordination mechanisms, including the Sudan National and Sub-Regional MHPSS Technical Working Groups.

Gender-Based Violence

To help meet increasing needs related to escalating violence, International Medical Corps launched its first GBV prevention and response programme in Sudan in 2024. We partner with two women-led women’s rights organizations to make support services available for survivors of GBV and strengthen support and protection for women and girls at risk of violence. International Medical Corps recognizes the importance of individualized, survivor-centered care, including psychosocial support and safe referral to health services. The GBV team works closely with Health team, ensuring that survivors can access CMR and intimate partner violence (IPV) services. We also support local efforts to combat GBV and promote broader support for survivors through community engagement. International Medical Corps also contributes to the GBV sub-cluster working group to ensure that interventions are enhanced through inter-agency collaboration and cooperation.

Capacity Building

The health system’s limited capacity and response mechanisms have severely weakened Sudan’s ability to provide adequate healthcare. Strengthening the capacity of health staff, largely through training, helps communities move toward sustainability and self-reliance.

Since arriving in Sudan in 2004, we have trained thousands of local and national medical personnel, including traditional birth attendants and community leaders. In 2023, we trained 928 people, providing them with skills that include:

  • maternal and newborn healthcare;
  • emergency obstetric and newborn care;
  • rationed use of essential drugs;
  • prevention and treatment of common communicable and non-communicable diseases;
  • reproductive-health and early-childhood care;
  • identification and management of common childhood illnesses;
  • nutritional screening, and treatment and prevention of malnutrition;
  • outbreak preparedness and response-management care;
  • infection prevention and control; and
  • community-based feedback and response mechanisms.

The expertise of these providers is crucial to integrating healthcare services into the community. Their skills also provide the continuity of care needed to stabilise fragile healthcare systems and foster long-term recovery.

Our Impact

1.6 million
people reached with our integrated programs in 2023
667,193
outpatient consultations provided in 2023
 

Media Hits

icon-resource

Resources

icon-resource
 

Situation Reports

icon-resource
icon-resource
icon-resource
icon-resource

Help Save Lives