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With timely intervention, complicated severe acute malnutrition can be reversed
Aysha’s story
WHO Sudan nutrition officer Sara Ebed checks on Aysha, a patient at Port Sudan Stabilization Centre. Photo credit: WHO/ Loza M Tesfaye 20 August 2025, Port Sudan, Sudan – Aziza Jebrellah sits on a hospital bed in Port Sudan Paediatric Hospital, gently comforting her 18-month-old daughter Aysha who has been admitted to the stabilization centre for severe acute malnutrition (SAM) with medical complications.
Aziza was displaced with her family from Khartoum when conflict erupted 2 years ago, fleeing first to Kassala, then moving to Port Sudan where she now lives with relatives.
Aysha had been sick with diarrhoea and fever for about 2 weeks before her family brought her to the stabilization centre. They decided to take her to the hospital when she stopped eating and appeared to be slipping away before their eyes. “When she refused to even taste anything and kept getting weaker, I was afraid I would lose her,” Aziza says. “Now I have hope that she will recover.”
Within 3 days of her admission to the stabilization centre Aysha began showing signs of improvement. Her appetite was slowly returning and she had gained a few grams. A small increase, but still a positive step towards recovery.
“WHO support to nutrition stabilization centres ensures children like Aysha can be saved through timely medical care. This is what keeps me going and gives meaning to my work,” says WHO Sudan Nutrition Officer Sara Ebed.
The stabilization centre uses therapeutic milk, essential medicines and medical supplies provided by WHO to manage SAM and its medical complications. Children admitted to the centre are monitored around the clock and improvements carefully documented. Once they recover from medical complications they are referred to the outpatient care programme for SAM without medical complications where they receive nutritious food and supplements through outpatient care managed by nutrition partners. Mothers receive food and cleaning items, creating a space for them to focus on caring for their child, and are provided with counselling on infant and young child feeding to continue care at home.
Driven by conflict, displacement and the consequent poor access to nutrition, over 770 000 children in Sudan are suffering from SAM, 116 800 of whom develop life-threatening medical complications.
WHO provides technical support and distributes nutrition supplies to 142 stabilization centres across Sudan and provides direct operational support to 47 stabilization centres. So far this year, close to 20 000 severely acute malnourished children with medical complications have been treated through WHO technical and supply chain assistance.
Sudan’s health crisis: holding the line
01 July 2025, Port Sudan, Sudan – Since the conflict in Sudan erupted in April 2023, the health system has come close to collapse, leaving millions without care. Health facilities have been devastated and many medical staff forced to leave. Yet amid all the destruction communities and health workers continue to work on the frontlines, providing what services they can.
From January to June 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO), in partnership with Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), reassessed Sudan’s progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG 3) targets. The reassessment was funded by the secretariat fund of the Global Action Plan on Healthy Lives and Well-being for All and conducted in liaison with the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean.
Data from the Health Resources Availability Monitoring System (HeRAMS) paint a sobering picture: 38% of health facilities are non-functional and only 14% of hospitals remain operational. In Khartoum, which once provided 70% of national health services, many hospitals have been destroyed or repurposed for military use.
The impact is profound. More than 4.9 million children under 5 suffer from acute malnutrition. Immunization coverage has collapsed from 90% to 51%, leaving millions of children vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases.
“The war has had a profoundly negative impact on child health services in Sudan, leading to increased mortality and morbidity among children,” said Dr Humayun Rizwan, Health Policy Advisor, Universal Health Coverage, WHO Sudan.
Over 1 million pregnant women need reproductive health services, yet many cannot access even the most basic care. Maternal mortality has risen by 30%, and skilled birth attendance has dropped from 85.9% to 77%.
Health workers continue to serve in makeshift clinics, often without pay or protection. Community volunteers and local NGOs have stepped in to deliver basic medicines, nutrition support and maternal care. In Kassala and Blue Nile states, pre-existing community health networks help sustain outreach and education efforts.
Projecting Sudan’s health trajectory through to 2036, the reassessment posits 3 scenarios – worsening, static and improving. In the absence of urgent action – the worsening scenario –mortality figures will continue to grow and the health system faces long-term collapse. But with stabilization, scaled up investments and sustained humanitarian access – the improving scenario – Sudan could recover some lost ground by 2030.
Four priority areas for action have been identified to reverse the decline: restoring primary health care; scaling up emergency response; promoting health and well-being (especially for women and children) and strengthening governance and data systems. The findings are already guiding Sudan’s Health Sector Rehabilitation Plan and helping inform donor strategies from key partners such as the European Union, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the World Bank and the Global Fund.
The SDG 3 reassessment outlined a scenario in which health services stabilize, investments increase and progress towards universal health coverage resumes. WHO is working closely with the Federal Ministry of Health and partners to make this a reality – by strengthening health systems, expanding access to care and mobilizing coordinated international support to protect the lives and health of millions.
Collective efforts offer a pathway to recovery – and hope for a healthier future.
Cholera spreads to all but one of Sudan’s states
Cases in Khartoum State decline following a large-scale vaccination campaign and other interventions
14 July 2025, Port Sudan, Sudan – Cholera cases in Khartoum State are declining following a 10-day vaccination campaign that reached more than 2.24 million people – achieving 96% coverage – in 12 hot spots in 5 at-risk localities. Together with response measures such as case management, surveillance, risk communication and community engagement, and improvements in access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene, the campaign contributed to a sustained fall in the number of new cases.
Before the campaign began, Khartoum State was registering up to 1500 new cases a day. In the weeks following the campaign new cases continued to fall. There were just 10–11 new cases a day being registered by 11 July 2025.
A nationwide cholera outbreak
Though case numbers in Khartoum State have declined, the outbreak has spread to all but one –Central Darfur State – of Sudan’s 18 states. The spread to North, South, West and East Darfur states and to North, South and West Kordofan states is particularly concerning given limited access and the already dire humanitarian and health crises in these states.
“The World Health Organization (WHO) is coordinating the response with Sudan’s health authorities and our teams are on the ground providing technical assistance and capacity-building. We are also dispatching cholera and other essential medical supplies to affected localities,” said WHO Representative in Sudan Dr Shible Sahbani. “We are exploring all possible ways to deploy medical supplies and technical support to the hard-to-reach Darfur and Kordofan states, including cross-border operations through Chad and South Sudan.”
By 11 July 2025, almost a year after the current wave of cholera outbreak started in late July 2024, the disease had infected 87 219 people and caused 2260 deaths – a case fatality ratio of 2.6%. The outbreak is fueled by displacement, lack of access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene caused by the breakdown of water supply systems, and limited amounts of medical supplies for the management of cases. There have been two surges in cases since 2025, one in March and the second in May, likely linked to drone attacks on power and water system infrastructure which severely compromised access to safe water and adequate health care.
Expanding oral cholera vaccination coverage to curb the outbreak
WHO, with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), continues to support campaigns in other affected states, including a 10-day vaccination campaign in North Kordofan State in June, reaching more than 265 518 people and, since 10 July, an ongoing campaign in Sennar targeting more than 500 000 people. An additional 3 million doses of vaccines have arrived in the country to cover 3 additional localities in Khartoum, and 500 000 doses are pending clearance to be deployed to South Darfur.
In light of the evolving epidemiological situation and the resurgence of cases in multiple conflict-affected regions, the International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision (ICG) Secretariat has approved the shipment of an additional 2.9 million doses of OCV vaccines for reactive campaigns in 11 high-risk localities in 7 affected states – Al Jazirah, East Darfur, South Darfur, North Kordofan, West Kordofan, White Nile and Sennar.
ICG has four member agencies: WHO, UNICEF, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
WHO’s response to the cholera outbreak in Sudan, including vaccination campaigns, is possible through the financial support of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) and the WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies (CFE).
