Sudan: Renewed conflict in Khartoum brings a new influx of displaced people to Wad Madani
Heavy fighting resumed in Sudan’s capital after the most recent ceasefire ended this week.
MSF teams in Wad Madani have seen a worrying increase in the number of people arriving from Khartoum. Around 5,000 people were already living in three major camps around the city. In the last week, the number of displaced people in one location where MSF works has risen from 300 to 2,800.
This rapid influx further highlights the urgent need for essential medical and other services for all displaced in this conflict.
“Many of the displaced people arriving in Wad Madani from the capital lost not only all their belongings and livelihoods but also family members during the fighting in Khartoum,” says Anja Wolz, MSF’s Medical Coordinator.
Since the start of May, MSF teams, with the support of Ministry of Health staff, have been running mobile clinics in several of the main locations where displaced people are gathered in Wad Madani. They have seen more than 1,600 patients in that time. Most have respiratory tract infections, commonly associated with poor living conditions or lack of proper shelter.
The teams also treat malaria, chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension and asthma, and skin lesions caused by allergies and scabies and provide vaccinations. A midwife offers services for pregnant women and psychological support is available. MSF has brought much-needed supplies to Wad Madani to support these activities in the past few weeks.
“The laboratory is not fully equipped, but we continue to operate with what is available. We have a good medication supply and quick medical test kits for malaria, blood sugar and pressure [and] pregnancy. We collaborate with the Ministry of Health to transfer urgent cases to the hospital. We also send an MSF medic and the patient to follow up,” said MSF doctor Ahmed Omer Aljack.
MSF is also concerned about the water and sanitation conditions in the camps for displaced people, particularly with the rainy season approaching. Already malaria cases are beginning to increase, and there are concerns about the spread of dengue – often linked to the coming of the rains and the spread of mosquitoes in camps like this.
“The goal of our teams in Wad Madani is also to prevent an outbreak of water-borne diseases such as cholera which could easily lead to a full-blown disaster in the current situation. MSF teams are working hard to improve the hygiene conditions in the camps and ensure access to safe drinking water,” said Wolz.
MSF is currently assessing how we can expand our activities to respond to the new influx of people from Khartoum.
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About Doctors Without Borders (MSF)
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is a global network of principled medical and other professionals who specialise in medical humanitarian work, driven by our common humanity and guided by medical ethics. We strive to bring emergency medical care to people caught in conflicts, crises, and disasters in more than 70 countries worldwide.
In South Africa, the organisation is recognised as one of the pioneers of providing Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) in the public sector and started the first HIV programmes in South Africa in 1999. Until today, the focus of MSF’s interventions in the country has primarily been on developing new testing and treatment strategies for HIV/AIDS and TB in Eshowe (Kwa-Zulu Natal) and Khayelitsha (Western Cape).
In Tshwane, we run a migration project, and we offer medical and psychosocial care to migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, who struggle to access public health services under South Africa’s increasingly restrictive.
Previously we offered free, high-quality, confidential medical care to survivors of SGBV in Rustenburg.
To learn more about our work in South Africa, please visit this page on our website (www.msf.org.za). To support MSF’s work:
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Seipati Moloi