In Sudan, the needs are growing by the day, but the response is deeply inadequate

“Sudan is one of the worst crises the world has seen for decades. There are extreme levels of suffering across the country, the needs are growing by the day, but the humanitarian response is deeply inadequate. We have responded to multiple mass casualty events and emergencies over the past year. We have performed life-saving surgical procedures, assisted women to give birth – including with emergency C-sections – and treated children in our paediatric wards and inpatient therapeutic feeding centres, trying to save their lives.

“In refugee camps and locations hosting displaced people, we have improved water and sanitation conditions, run mobile clinics and vaccinated children. But in many of the areas where we work, we are the sole humanitarian organisation there. Before the start of the war, there were dozens of international organisations responding across the country. Now, there are almost none. For a crisis of this scale, this is unfathomable, unacceptable and it cannot be allowed to continue.

“There is no doubt that there are enormous challenges in Sudan, but they are not insurmountable. It is possible to respond – and we know this, because we are there. A major issue is the systematic blockage of the delivery of humanitarian assistance that has been imposed by the Sudanese Armed Forces for the past six months. It means that we cannot send medical supplies or personnel across the frontlines into areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces, and recently we have seen increasing attempts to block humanitarian supplies and staff crossing from neighbouring countries into Sudan.