Sudan’s already devastated healthcare system is being pushed closer to collapse as international aid cuts force clinics and medical facilities across the country to close, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has warned.
The medical humanitarian organisation says reductions in foreign assistance are compounding the effects of more than three years of war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), leaving millions of civilians with increasingly limited access to essential healthcare.
The conflict, which erupted in April 2023, has produced one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises. More than 33 million people are estimated to require some form of humanitarian or medical assistance, while hospitals and clinics have repeatedly been damaged, abandoned or forced to operate with severe shortages of staff, medicines and equipment.
The latest pressure comes amid a sharp decline in international humanitarian funding.
The United States has historically been Sudan’s largest humanitarian donor, but major changes to Washington’s foreign aid system and the closure of USAID have left numerous aid organisations facing significant funding shortfalls. Many grants supporting humanitarian programmes reportedly expired in June, while several European governments have also reduced overseas aid spending.
Figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) show that international aid fell globally by 21.3% in 2025 compared with the previous year.
MSF, whose operations in Sudan are privately funded, says the withdrawal of funding from other healthcare providers is having consequences across the wider medical system. As clinics close, more patients are being forced to travel greater distances for treatment, placing additional pressure on the limited number of facilities that remain operational.
The impact has been particularly severe in Darfur, one of the regions hardest hit by the war.
Between January and April 2026, admissions to MSF-supported facilities in Central Darfur increased by 22.5% compared with the same period in 2025.
In May alone, 45 healthcare centres in the area reportedly lost funding.
The reduction in frontline medical services means patients are increasingly arriving at hospitals after longer, more expensive and often dangerous journeys, sometimes when their conditions have already significantly deteriorated.
Eastern Sudan is facing similar pressures.
At Tanedba displacement camp in Gedaref state, which is home to around 18,400 people displaced by the conflict, maternity and surgical services were closed after another humanitarian organisation withdrew in June.
MSF has since been operating an emergency room at the camp, but pregnant women requiring Caesarean sections or other surgical interventions reportedly have to travel around three hours to reach the nearest city capable of providing the necessary care.
At Um Rakuba camp, also in Gedaref state, the number of humanitarian organisations operating there has fallen dramatically, from around 35 in 2021 to fewer than 10 today.
The camp currently hosts approximately 17,000 people, the majority of them women and children.
MSF has warned that without renewed international support, more Sudanese civilians will face longer journeys for treatment, fewer healthcare options and an increased risk of dying before they can receive medical attention.
The funding crisis is unfolding alongside continued attacks on Sudan’s healthcare infrastructure.
According to figures cited by MSF, 1,620 people were killed in attacks on healthcare facilities in Sudan during 2025, accounting for a reported 82% of deaths linked to attacks on healthcare worldwide that year.
Sudan is also facing an escalating hunger crisis.
United Nations figures indicate that more than 19.5 million people are experiencing crisis levels of food insecurity, while more than five million are facing emergency levels of hunger.
Meanwhile, fighting between the SAF and RSF and their respective allies continues across several parts of the country despite repeated international attempts to broker an end to the war.
In North Kordofan, at least 11 people were reportedly killed on Tuesday in a drone strike on the army-controlled town of Umm Ruwaba. Medical sources said the strike hit a crowded courtyard inside a court complex.
The continued violence, combined with shrinking humanitarian assistance, has raised fears that Sudan’s healthcare system could deteriorate even further as millions of civilians remain trapped between conflict, displacement, hunger and diminishing access to medical treatment.
