24 July 2025

When war erupted in Sudan in April 2023, it tore a deadly path through the capital, Khartoum. In the years since, fighters have brutally targeted civilians across the country, resulting in the world’s largest displacement crisis, with some 12 million people forced from their homes.

Today, as families begin to return to Khartoum, the scars of conflict remain painfully visible, especially in the shattered health system. UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, is part of the effort to restore what has been lost.

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Dr. Badreldin visits the ravaged site of the Ibrahim Malik Hospital.
“As I walked toward the entrance, I kept praying it hadn’t been completely devastated. But my heart broke when I saw it burned, destroyed, and looted” - Dr. Badreldin

The Ibrahim Malik Hospital has been a prominent medical training institution in Khartoum for more than 40 years, renowned for its maternal and neonatal services and emergency care. Dr. Khalid Badreldin, a UNFPA reproductive health analyst who received training at the hospital, recently visited the facility, finding it in pieces.

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The hospital has been looted and destroyed, with various departments set on fire.
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The damage is so severe, the facility needs to be entirely rebuilt.
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“I have so many memories here. This is where I built my career,” says Dr. Badreldin, pictured at left. “I performed my first surgery and delivered my first baby here. Now, I find it like this.” 

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A medical record on an incubator shows that the last baby admitted to the hospital was on 14 April 2023, one day before the war broke out.
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Dr. Okba Doghim, the head of UNFPA Sudan’s reproductive health team, examines the devastated neonatal intensive care unit at the Ibrahim Malik Hospital.
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Al Dayat Hospital, the largest maternity hospital in Sudan, came under attack and had to temporarily relocate, but has managed to continue operating.
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Around 30 to 40 babies are delivered each day at Al Dayat, down from nearly 100 per day before the war.
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Midwife Batoul says that despite relentless mortar and artillery fire, “we never stopped working” at Al Dayat Hospital.
“I’ve been a midwife since 1998, and I will continue to support women and girls, no matter what.”
Batoul

As the war grinds on, UNFPA is assisting in efforts to restock supplies and restore services, working to ensure that women and girls have access to life-saving reproductive healthcare. Since January 2025, nearly 8,000 safe births have been supported across Sudan, and more than 1.5 million women and girls have received sexual and reproductive health supplies.

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The maternity ward at Al Dayat Hospital is staffed by dedicated midwives supported by UNFPA.
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A health worker tends to newborns at Al Dayat’s neonatal intensive care unit.
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Dr. Doghim reviews the operating theatre and available supplies with hospital staff.
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UNFPA’s support is helping to bring new life to Al Dayat Hospital.
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The Haj Mardi Academic Hospital, which provided maternal and newborn healthcare, remains closed due to damage. The bullet casing pictured here was found in the neonatal intensive care unit.
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At Al Saudi Hospital, women wait to give birth in rooms riddled with bullet holes.
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The hospital, which had to temporarily relocate after being hit by shelling, is now operating from its original locale, but many facilities are out of service.
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In May 2025, more than 700 women gave birth at Al Saudi with the support of trained midwives. However, due to limited capacity, three women on average now share a bed.
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Bringing light back to Khartoum’s hospitals: A solar power system installed at Al Saudi Hospital by UNFPA.
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This baby was born at Al Saudi Hospital after her mother returned home to Khartoum following two years of displacement.

UNFPA is working with partners to provide life-saving reproductive health and protection services in areas with high numbers of internally displaced people. There are an estimated 272,000 internally displaced pregnant women across the country. More than 1.1 million pregnant women overall lack access to essential services, including prenatal and postnatal support for survivors of rape who carry pregnancies to term. 

While UNFPA brings expertise in maternal healthcare, obstetric emergencies, the clinical management of rape and psychosocial support, significant additional investment is needed to restore crucial services. 

“As people return rapidly to Khartoum, there is an urgent need for all partners to join forces in rebuilding a health system that has been shattered by war,” says Dr. Doghim. “Many hospitals remain out of service, and those still functioning face severe shortages of trained staff, essential infrastructure and medical supplies. Women and girls are bearing the brunt of this collapse.”
 

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UNFPA calls on the international community to urgently prioritize investments in rebuilding Sudan’s health system.

Behind the scenes

UNFPA photographer Sufian Abdulmouty lived and worked in Khartoum for four years before the war erupted. He recently returned to the city for the first time in two years, capturing the powerful images for this feature. He shared a few of his reflections.

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Sufian Abdulmouty outside the UNFPA office in Khartoum. © UNFPA Sudan

“I returned to Khartoum after more than two years away. I hadn’t expected to come back so soon, yet I did. My memory of the city struggled against the devastation, trying to overlay the ruins with fragments of the past: a hospital still standing, a home filled with warmth, buildings that once gave the city its beloved shape. But the reality was too stark, too brutal to soften. 

“On seeing the state of the city, I kept thinking two main things: Firstly, that for people to want to return to the city in this condition, they must have been really suffering where they were displaced to. And second, I was struck by emotion to see how determined people are. Having gone through so much, there’s still a way to forge forward.”

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