TAWILA, North Darfur, Sudan — March 2026: A man injured during fighting in El Fasher in October 2025 walks on crutches outside the MSF hospital in Tawila, escorted by Hussein, a longtime Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) medical coordinator. Tawila has become a critical refuge for hundreds of thousands fleeing violence in and around the besieged city of El Fasher, where humanitarian organizations such as MSF provide lifesaving medical care to war-wounded civilians and severely malnourished children. (Photo by Giles Clarke/OCHA)

Conflict in Sudan

A man injured during fighting in El-Fasher, in October 2025, walks on crutches outside the MSF hospital in Tawila, escorted by Hussein, a longtime MSF medical coordinator. Tawila has become a critical refuge for hundreds of thousands of people fleeing violence in and around the besieged city of El-Fasher, where MSF is providing lifesaving medical care to war-wounded people and children with severe malnutrition, alongside other international organisations. North Darfur, Sudan, March 2026.

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Last updated on 22 April 2026.

On 15 April 2023, intense fighting broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum and across most of Sudan. Since then, the conflict has killed and injured thousands of people.

The war in Sudan is a war on people. Across large parts of Sudan, and especially in the Darfur and Kordofans regions, people have experienced ongoing violence, including intense urban warfare, gunfire, shelling, and airstrikes. Our teams are treating patients with injuries caused by explosions, bullets, and stabbings. Healthcare workers and facilities have been attacked and looted.

Nearly 14 million people have been forcibly displaced since the conflict began, including over 4.5 million who have sought safety in neighbouring countries, according to OCHA. Displaced people’s camps lack adequate healthcare and humanitarian aid. There are catastrophic levels of malnutrition, with OCHA estimating that 4.2 million children under five years old and pregnant and breastfeeding women are in need of treatment for acute malnutrition. Disease outbreaks, including cholera and measles, are overwhelming already fragile health services.

This is all taking place while the World Health Organization estimates that more than one third of health facilities are non-functional in the country. With very few international aid organisations on the ground, the humanitarian response is far from adequate. Restrictions imposed on humanitarian organisations by the Sudanese authorities further isolate people in need of assistance.

People’s suffering in Sudan is not just a humanitarian crisis. It is a political failure. The humanitarian response is underfunded, deprioritised, and stalled by a lack of political will — both internationally and within Sudan. Sudan needs the world to act now, not later.

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In Daba Naira camp of Tawila, in North Darfur state, western Sudan, families live in fragile straw huts and makeshift shelters that provide almost no protection from harsh weather or fire. Overcrowding and sparse materials leave many exposed to constant risk, reflecting the extreme vulnerability of displaced communities.

Conflict in Sudan

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MSF’s response in Sudan

In Sudan, MSF is present in nine out of the 18 states in the country. Our 1,750 Sudanese staff and 250 international staff currently run two hospitals and two clinics, as well as work in and/or support 13 hospitals, 17 basic healthcare facilities, and various clinics and mobile clinic sites.

In Sudan, MSF teams:

Provide emergency medical treatment, including surgeries, for war wounded and non-war related injuries.
Respond to disease outbreaks.
Provide maternal and paediatric healthcare
Offer water and sanitation services.
Donate medicines and medical supplies to healthcare facilities, and provide incentives, training, and logistical support to Ministry of Health staff.
Treat children and pregnant women with malnutrition both at-home and in-hospital.
Conduct vaccination campaigns.
Distribute food and water in camps for internally displaced people.

MSF emergency response in Sudan (January-November 2025)

846,220

846,22

outpatient consultations

253,510

253,51

emergency room consultations

236,490

236,49

vaccinations administered

28,990

28,99

births assisted

4,220

4,22

consultations for sexual violence

MSF’s response in bordering countries

Chad

Over 800,000 refugees and returnees have crossed the border from Sudan to Chad, according to UNHCR. People are living in camps in Chad and are facing difficulties securing even their most basic needs. With a lack of water, food, proper shelter, and healthcare people are suffering from diarrhoea, malnutrition, and malaria.

MSF teams are responding in three border regions, Sila, Wadi Fira, and Ouaddaï.

In Chad, we provide general and specialised healthcare, surgery, malnutrition screening and treatment, vaccinations, and sexual and reproductive healthcare through existing local health facilities, and mobile clinics. Our teams have also begun digging boreholes to supply camps and local communities with water. In some places, we provide refugee communities with plastic sheeting, mosquito nets and bars of soap, which are crucial to prevent the spread of malaria and diarrhoea.

MSF also works with the Ministry of Public Health and other organisations to provide patient care and support for epidemics affecting refugee and host communities. This includes supporting vaccination and cold chain management in the communities and transit camps in Adré, Aboutenge, Irdimi, Tulum, Metché, Tiné, and Allacha.

South Sudan

Since the eruption of conflict in Sudan, over 1 million people have crossed into South Sudan to seek refuge, according to UNHCR. This influx has overwhelmed the already dire humanitarian situation in the country. Our teams are providing general and specialist care in in Mayen Abun, Twic County. In Renk County, we are working to care for refugees and returnees, including by treating war-related injuries and supporting the Ministry of Health with the provision of care at a general healthcare centre in Gosfami, a refugee settlement. There, we are also providing drinking water. The worsening humanitarian crisis in South Sudan needs urgent international prioritisation. Communities are facing overlapping crises, and the current response is failing to meet people’s rising needs across the country.

What we need in Sudan

Attacks must stop now. The warring parties cannot continue to inflict severe suffering on people by killing, raping, and attacking civilians, destroying livelihoods and infrastructure, and displacing people.
Safe and unhindered humanitarian access must be granted now. Every attack or obstruction against health workers and facilities, and humanitarian aid, puts lives in danger and cuts off communities from the care they need.
The humanitarian response must be urgently funded. The humanitarian response in Sudan is currently underfunded, deprioritised, and stalled by a lack of will both in Sudan and internationally.
Urgent and coordinated action is needed now to provide people with healthcare, clean water, sanitation services, and shelter. The overcrowded conditions and lack of basic services in camps in Sudan, and in those for people fleeing outside of Sudan, are delaying care and fuelling disease.
Urgent and coordinated action is needed to provide food, therapeutic food, and essential care for malnutrition. Widespread food insecurity is driving malnutrition among children, and more must be done to prevent deaths and long-term harm.
Urgent action is needed to expand the availability of secure shelters, obstetric care, and general medical and psychological care for victims and survivors of sexual violence. Sexual violence and the collapse of sexual and reproductive health services are leaving people exposed to trauma and preventable deaths.