Operational review of WHO health emergency response in Sudan

The armed conflict in Sudan has disrupted essential health services and displaced millions of people since April 2023, with an estimated 30.4 million people requiring humanitarian assistance as of 2025.

To assess the operational strengths, challenges and gaps in the WHO-led health emergency response in Sudan across incident management system domains.

From July to August 2025, we conducted a descriptive operational review of WHO and partner documents on the health emergency response in Sudan for April 2023 to July 2025 and held a structured consultation with 48 WHO headquarters, Eastern Mediterranean regional office and Sudan country office staff. We analysed the findings using the WHO Emergency Response Framework 2.1 and 6 incident management system domains.

Through the WHO-supported services, nearly 300 000 people received treatment for trauma and emergency conditions, more than 500 000 received primary health care and nearly 294 000 were reached through the mobile health teams. More than 700 000 people have received medicines for chronic diseases. Insecurity, funding shortage, workforce gaps, weak surveillance, and logistic constraints have limited service coverage, particularly in hard-to-reach areas. Fragmented coordination and data systems further reduced operational effectiveness.

Strengthening leadership, coordination, surveillance, financing, and operational systems is essential to sustain lifesaving interventions and reduce morbidity and mortality in Sudan.