NORTH KORODFAN STATE, Sudan – “One of the most difficult experiences during the war involved a mother who delivered triplets, all of whom were premature and required intensive care,” said Dr. Hasan Babikir, in Sudan’s North Kordofan State.
“They were referred to a paediatric hospital, but no beds were available. We had to watch two of the babies die before our eyes.”
Dr. Babikir is Director of El-Obeid Maternity Hospital, which has come under increasing pressure as tens of thousands of people, many of them vulnerable and in dire need of healthcare, flee the violence engulfing neighbouring South Kordofan State.
But as the only referral hospital in western Sudan, it is care that health workers are struggling to provide.
“There’s a severe shortage of surgical and normal delivery equipment, as well as essentials such as antibiotics, surgical sutures and gloves,” Dr. Babikir told UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, which is the UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency. “This forces us to buy them from the market at very high prices.”
The city of El-Obeid has come under frequent drone attacks, with multiple targets against health facilities that have killed and injured health workers and patients. The maternity hospital currently serves over 230,000 displaced people, most of them women and girls facing sexual violence, hunger and a near total lack of healthcare.
“No beds were available – we had to watch two of the babies die before our eyes.” – Dr. Babikir
In February, an average of 25 babies a day were delivered at the hospital – a steep rise on the usual 17 per day. Yet ongoing supply shortages, overcrowding, power outages and high fuel costs all make operating on patients extremely challenging – and at times impossible.
A growing maternal health crisis
UNFPA has installed a solar power system to help mitigate power outages at the maternity hospital, rehabilitated delivery rooms, and trained and deployed skilled health workers to assist with emergency obstetric and neonatal services.
“Previously, the hospital didn’t have a neonatal intensive care unit,” said Dr. Babikir. “At the beginning of 2026, we opened one with only four beds, which are constantly occupied, and we urgently need to expand capacity.”
The increasingly fraught conditions are driving up maternal death rates, he warned. “We have lost patients due to prolonged waiting times. Although there are two emergency operating rooms, they are currently out of service. In many cases, emergency patients arrive while all rooms are occupied, sometimes resulting in the loss of the mother or fetus.”
Newborns’ lives are in danger too, said midwife Laila Sarfo. “We don’t have tables to place newborns on, nor do we have adequate infection control equipment in the delivery rooms. The sterilization units for surgical instruments are not functioning. We lack basic supplies such as sterile cotton and gauze, and we don’t even have a baby scale.”
Health workers under pressure
UNFPA provides cash and voucher assistance to cover referral costs such as deliveries and Caesarean sections, but the crisis is making it hard for health workers to carry out these jobs. “The salaries we receive are not enough to cover even basic transportation or the meals we need during our shifts,” explained Insaf, a senior midwife
And with equipment so limited, patients are often asked to buy the gloves, sterilized water and medicines needed to serve them. “Many times women arrive without the means to purchase essential delivery supplies, and we find ourselves paying for these items out of our own pockets,” added Insaf.
Yet she and her colleagues are determined to keep delivering care. “Throughout the war and up to now, we have continued to receive women and girls displaced from all states,” said Insaf. “Some midwives are working 24-hour shifts to meet the overwhelming demand.”
“We continue to come to the hospital out of a deep sense of duty – we have never stopped working.”
Responding amid soaring needs
Nearly three years of civil war have pushed more than 33 million people in Sudan into severe need of humanitarian aid. The conflict has been marked by horrific sexual violence, kidnappings and child marriage, with survivors struggling to access any safe spaces or healthcare.
“We continue out of a deep sense of duty – we have never stopped working.” – Midwife Insaf
In the crowded Al Moaskar Al Mwahhad displacement camp in South Kordofan, UNFPA operates a mobile health clinic and a safe space for women and girls who are survivors or at risk of abuse.
Salma, 50, has been sheltering at the camp for eight months now. “Women are exhausted from the war,” she told UNFPA. “Many crimes have been committed against women, including rape. Many women have been widowed. In this camp, the number of women who are still with their husbands can be counted on one hand.”
For girls like 16-year-old Ismailia, the crisis is impacting almost every part of their lives – and their futures. “We traveled by donkey for three days, and after that trucks brought us here,” she told UNFPA. “I hope to return to my town and my school. Please allow us to rebuild our home and go back.”
UNFPA is working across the country to provide gender-based violence response and protection as well as sexual and reproductive health services. To continue supporting women and girls in 2026, UNFPA is urgently calling for US $129 million, of which just $33 million has so far been pledged.
