Three years of conflict in Sudan have left the nation’s healthcare system in a state of near-total collapse, the humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has warned. In a statement issued on Wednesday April 8, MSF said ongoing fighting, restricted humanitarian access and widespread impunity are placing millions of lives at risk, as the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continues to dismantle essential services.
The organization reported that in 2025 alone, it treated more than 7,700 people for violence-related injuries, conducted over 250,000 emergency consultations and handled more than 4,200 cases of sexual violence—described as being systematically used as a weapon of war, with women disproportionately affected.
Child malnutrition has also surged, with over 15,000 children under five admitted to MSF feeding programmes, raising concerns about preventable deaths from otherwise treatable conditions.
MSF indicated that vaccination campaigns have been severely disrupted, while disease surveillance systems have broken down, fuelling outbreaks of preventable illnesses. In 2025, the group treated more than 12,000 measles cases and nearly 42,200 cholera patients.
Hospitals have been looted, bombed or occupied, while medical personnel have faced threats, detention or forced displacement. Ambulances have also reportedly been blocked from accessing patients.
According to the World Health Organization, Sudan accounted for 82 percent of global deaths linked to attacks on healthcare in 2025, with over 2,000 people killed and 720 injured in more than 200 such incidents since April 2023.
Recent strikes include an April 2 attack on Al Jabalain Hospital, reportedly by the RSF, which killed 10 people, including seven medical staff, and a March 20 assault on El Daein Hospital in East Darfur, reportedly by the SAF, which left 70 dead, among them 15 children.
“Sudanese authorities continue to make it difficult for MSF and other humanitarian groups to provide care,” said MSF’s head of mission in Sudan, Amande Bazerolle. “Being blocked from intervening leaves us unable to prevent avoidable suffering and death despite being ready and willing to help.”
MSF also reported an escalation in drone attacks by both warring factions, increasingly targeting civilian areas beyond active frontlines. Since February, around 400 people injured in such strikes have been treated in Darfur and eastern Chad. The United Nations estimates that more than 500 civilians were killed between January 1 and March 15. “The scale of violence and atrocity we witness is unbearable,” said Muriel Boursier. MSF attributed the worsening crisis to what it described as a broader political failure, noting that nearly 14 million people have been displaced since April 2023, many of them multiple times.