Sudan’s Women Left to Suffer as Health and Protection Services Collapse
Written By Maxine Ansah
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As conflict rages in Sudan, women and girls are being pushed further into crisis, with life-saving health and protection services disappearing at an alarming rate. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the situation has reached a critical point, where thousands of pregnant women and survivors of rape are left with nowhere to turn.
Sudan is now home to one of the world’s fastest-growing humanitarian emergencies. Ongoing fighting, insecurity and devastated infrastructure have already displaced millions. For women and girls, the consequences are particularly harrowing. UNFPA has warned that cuts to sexual and reproductive health services are not just statistics but a death sentence for many.
Gynaecologists, nurses and midwives working with UNFPA have reported seeing an increasing number of displaced pregnant women arriving at health facilities in desperate condition. These women often suffer from complications brought on by prolonged distress, malnutrition and physical exhaustion. One midwife, Balghis, working in Gedaref State, said the situation has become so critical that
“by the time they reach us, it’s often a race against time to safeguard the health of the mother, the baby, or both.” She added that such cases are no longer rare but are “becoming the norm.”
More than 1.1 million pregnant women in Sudan are now without access to antenatal care, safe delivery or postpartum services, according to the World Health Organization. Across conflict-affected areas including Al Jazirah, Kordofan, the Darfur states and Khartoum, approximately 80 percent of health facilities are either barely functional or have shut down completely. UNFPA has already had to withdraw support from more than half of the 93 facilities it was previously funding due to a collapse in donor support.
At the same time, gender-based violence prevention and response services have been drastically reduced. The number of safe spaces for survivors has dropped from 61 to 50. These facilities once provided not only shelter but also counselling, medical treatment and legal referrals. Now, only one in four facilities offering clinical management of rape is fully operational across Sudan’s 18 states. The Darfur region and Kordofan are among the most severely affected.
Dina, a gender-based violence specialist working in Sudan, shared that “the scale and brutality of violations are beyond anything we’ve previously documented.” She said that numerous cases involving adolescent girls who have survived rape and sexual violence have been reported.
“Many are left coping with unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections and deep psychological trauma. It will take decades to recover from this,” she said.
Despite this, she emphasised that the survivors continue to fight to stay alive, raise their voices and seek justice.
The need for protection is overwhelming. Around 12.1 million people in Sudan — nearly one in four are now at risk of gender-based violence. The vast majority of them are women and girls. Demand for these services has tripled over the past year. More than half of those who sought support at UNFPA-backed centres reported rape or other forms of sexual assault.
Despite this sharp increase in need, donor support has fallen to dangerous levels. In 2024, humanitarian donors provided less than 20 percent of the 62.8 million US dollars required to address gender-based violence in Sudan. This chronic underfunding, compounded by deep cuts to sexual and reproductive health services, is creating a devastating service gap.
Laila Baker, UNFPA Regional Director for the Arab States, said the international community is failing Sudan’s women and girls.
“The world is turning its back on the women and girls of Sudan,” she said. “Cuts to humanitarian funding are not just budget decisions. They are life-and-death choices. When the services that protect women’s health, safety and dignity vanish, what message do we send? That their suffering is invisible. That their lives do not matter. This is unacceptable.”
UNFPA has issued an urgent call to donors to act immediately and restore funding for these critical services. Baker stressed that
“silence and inaction are a choice. Donors must act now. Lives depend on it.”
