Three years into a brutal conflict that has torn Sudan apart, the country is experiencing what aid workers describe as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. The war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed hundreds of thousands of people and brought Sudan’s healthcare system to its knees. A medicine crisis of catastrophic proportions is compounding the suffering of a population already facing famine and mass atrocities.
Access to essential medicines has become nearly impossible for ordinary Sudanese. Hospitals have been bombed, looted, or overrun. Pharmaceutical supply chains have collapsed entirely. In conflict zones, doctors are performing amputations without anaesthetic and cancer patients are dying from treatable diseases.
## The Destruction of Healthcare
The war has seen both sides deliberately target medical facilities. The RSF has been accused of systematic attacks on hospitals in areas under its control, while the SAF has carried out air strikes on healthcare infrastructure.
International humanitarian organisations have repeatedly called for greater protection of medical facilities and personnel, with limited success.
## Blocked Aid Corridors
The medicine shortage is also the result of deliberate obstruction. Humanitarian convoys have been delayed, diverted, or denied access by both parties. Prices for basic medicines have skyrocketed.
## The Human Cost
For Sudanese civilians, the medicine crisis is a daily reality measured in preventable deaths. Children are dying from treatable infections. Diabetics are lapsing into comas because insulin is unavailable.
Medical workers, many of whom have not received salaries in months, are quitting in large numbers.
## International Response Falls Short
The United Nations has issued repeated appeals, but the response has been inadequate relative to the scale of the crisis. As the conflict enters its fourth year with no credible peace process on the horizon, Sudan is becoming a byword for preventable suffering on an enormous scale.