Chad’s Refugee Crisis Overwhelms Maternity Care in Eastern Region, UN Agency Warns
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has issued a stark warning that maternity wards across eastern Chad are buckling under the pressure of a massive influx of refugee women who have fled violence and instability in neighboring Sudan. Across the region, clinics are operating with overcrowding, inadequate medicine, minimal equipment, and severe shortages of trained personnel — leaving pregnant women with little recourse but to give birth in conditions that endanger both their lives and the lives of their babies.
The crisis has been building for months, driven by the ongoing conflict in Sudan that has forced hundreds of thousands of people across the border into Chad. The displaced population — primarily women and children — has overwhelmed a health system that was already fragile before the influx arrived. UNFPA’s latest situation report describes a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in slow motion, with maternal deaths rising and the funding needed to respond falling far short of what is required.
A System at Breaking Point
In February 2026, UNFPA deployed 98 midwives across 72 health facilities in eastern Chad, the south, and the Lac province. While significant, this deployment has proven insufficient. Maternity wards that were designed to serve a local population are now managing patient loads several times their intended capacity. Women arrive after exhausting journeys from camps where healthcare capacity is virtually non-existent.
The situation is particularly acute for those requiring emergency obstetric care. In some facilities, surgeries are being performed without anesthesia due to supply chain failures and funding gaps. Post-operative care is compromised by overcrowding and a lack of follow-up resources. UNFPA has warned that without urgent action, the maternal mortality rate in the region will rise sharply in the coming months.
Current estimates suggest there are approximately 68,880 pregnant women among the displaced population in eastern Chad. Over the next 12 months, more than 91,840 births are expected. Without a dramatic increase in humanitarian funding and medical supplies, many of these women will give birth without skilled attendance — the single greatest factor determining whether a mother or her baby survives childbirth.
Funding Gaps and the Failure of the International System
The crisis in eastern Chad is not simply a consequence of conflict — it is also a consequence of neglect. UNFPA’s operations in the region are facing a 44% funding shortfall, forcing implementers to make agonising choices about which services to maintain and which to scale back. The women most affected are among the most vulnerable people on earth: displaced, impoverished, and cut off from the health infrastructure that might save their lives.
The international humanitarian system has been under strain across multiple simultaneous crises — Sudan, Gaza, DR Congo, and others — and funding pledges have failed to keep pace with need. Chad, which rarely generates the same media attention as other crises, has been particularly affected by this dynamic. Aid agencies on the ground describe a sense of quiet desperation as they watch a catastrophe unfold with insufficient resources to respond.
A Women’s Center Offers a Lifeline
In the midst of the crisis, UNFPA and its partners have opened a Women’s Center in eastern Chad that is providing a critical safe space for refugee and host community women. The center offers not only maternal health services but also psychosocial support, gender-based violence case management, and referrals for survivors of violence. It represents one of the few entry points for comprehensive support in an otherwise under-resourced response.
The center’s staff describe women arriving in states of exhaustion and trauma — some having walked for days, many having witnessed violence or lost family members in the crossing from Sudan. The medical care they receive is life-saving, but the underlying drivers of their displacement remain largely unaddressed. The conflict in Sudan shows no sign of abating, meaning the pressure on eastern Chad will continue for the foreseeable future.
The Broader Regional Context
Chad sits at the crossroads of multiple crises — it borders Sudan to the east, Libya to the north, and the Central African Republic to the south. Its own political stability has been fragile, with military governments and periodic coups creating an atmosphere of uncertainty. The arrival of hundreds of thousands of refugees from Sudan has added a layer of complexity that the country’s institutions were poorly equipped to handle.
The Lake Chad Basin — already impacted by the Boko Haram insurgency — has seen humanitarian needs grow as displacement from Sudan compounds existing pressures. Local communities, already living in one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions, are now absorbing refugees at a scale that is straining social services, water resources, and livelihoods.
What Must Be Done
UNFPA and its partners are calling for an urgent injection of funding to scale up maternal health services in eastern Chad. This includes deploying additional midwives and obstetricians, stocking facilities with essential medicines and equipment, and establishing mobile clinics to reach the most isolated settlements. The international community must recognize that maternal health in conflict zones is not a secondary concern — it is a fundamental marker of whether humanitarian response is functioning at all.
For the women of eastern Chad, the question is not abstract. It is the difference between life and death for themselves and their children. As one UNFPA staff member put it: “Every day we fail to act, women give birth without help. We cannot let this become normal.”