Aid cuts leave millions without health care across Sudan | Doctors Without Borders

In and around Um Rakuba camp, where about 17,000 refugees live, the number of aid organizations has decreased from 35 to fewer than 10 over the past five years.

“Our hospital in Um Rakuba is now the only lifeline left for both refugees and the local Sudanese community,” said Fabrizio Locuratolo, MSF humanitarian affairs manager. “But the cuts here go well beyond health care. Food rations are shrinking and protection programs are being dismantled, pulling away the last safety nets and leaving refugees completely exposed.”

Across Sudan, the UN reports that 825,000 children under 5 are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition and 19.5 million people faced crisis-level hunger earlier this year. This means that families either do not have enough food to eat or can only meet basic food needs by resorting to measures such as selling the assets they depend on to survive. Yet the UN’s $2.87 billion response plan is barely 41-percent funded, and the World Health Organization estimates that 37 percent of Sudan’s health facilities are completely out of service.