Health groups fight warlike conditions in Sudan to save newborns – Global Issues
Under fire and gunfire, Esraa laid her newborn son to sleep. When war broke out in Sudan in April 2023, she was trying to reach a clinic to receive treatment for her child, who was struggling with infections and breathing difficulties. But since the roads were closed due to the fighting, the young mother did not make it to the clinic; her son died in her arms.
When she became pregnant again in August last year, she was afraid of losing another child. “There is only one working maternity hospital left in Khartoum,” said Esraa. “It’s too dangerous to walk around town – one of our neighbors died on the way to the hospital.”
Throughout the war, Esraa and his family have been forced to leave again and again as places that were safe one day became dangerous the next. Eventually they found shelter in a crowded area with other people from Khartoum.
‘It was like going from one grave to another’
Khartoum, once the largest city in Sudan, is now a ghost town. In the shelters set up for people forced to leave their homes, conditions are dire: Overcrowding and basic hygiene are lacking. Food is also increasingly scarce, leaving many struggling with severe hunger as Sudan faces the worst level of food insecurity ever reported in the country.
As the crisis worsens and diseases such as polio and cholera spread, access to health care has become one of the most critical challenges for the people of Khartoum. Many medical facilities have been forced out of business due to destruction and lack of supplies.
“I was five months pregnant when I arrived at the shelter,” said Esraa. “For me it was like going from one grave to another. We were always waiting for something bad to happen. Hope had no place in our hearts.”
Rotating responders
Amidst these dire conditions, a mobile health team supported by UNFPA arrived in the area to provide reproductive health and protection services to the women and girls living there. “Mobile health teams play an important role in preventing maternal deaths, providing many health services in war-affected areas in Sudan,” explained Mohamed Hasan Nahat, team coordinator.
Esraa received prenatal care and micronutrients from the group, which visited regularly to care for her and other women and girls at the shelter. “They not only helped me with medical help but also gave me a sense of security and hope that I had after months of not feeling it,” he said.
Four months later, Esraa gave birth to a healthy baby boy, assisted by a mobile team. “I gave birth in a shelter. They took care of me and the baby – I even named him Mohamed after the doctor who helped me.”
UNFPA has deployed 56 mobile health teams in 11 states in Sudan, providing sexual and reproductive health services as well as protection and response to gender-based violence. Since the start of the war, teams – including doctors, pharmacists, lab technicians, psychologists and midwives – have conducted more than 150,000 medical consultations.
Although they are saving lives and providing the only medical care many people have received, aid workers like social worker Nisreen Kamal Abdulla feel there is still more they want to do for these communities.
“The time available at the clinic was not enough to treat everyone – we have to visit all the communities more often to reach more people and provide consistent care,” he told UNFPA. “Most of the women we have met with mental health problems have stopped their medication because they don’t have the money to buy medication.”
Reaching remote communities
Team travel is essential to increase access to essential services in remote areas, prevent maternal deaths from unsafe childbirth and high-risk pregnancies. Often times a lack of transportation means that many cannot get to a health center on time – or at all.
On average, the team will work in three different locations per week, spending one to two days in each location, based on the size and needs of the community.
“Although I did not leave Khartoum during the war and continued to work in its hospitals, this experience was different,” explained Dr.
“I reached faraway places and connected with people I couldn’t reach before. It was very encouraging for them to know that there are organizations that care about them and don’t leave them behind.”
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