There is suffering all over the world and most of the time the United States fails to cover the struggles that foreign countries are facing. This leads to ignorance and misinformation about what is truly happening in these countries. I find that those who are unaware of what is going on around in the world have a mentality of “it doesn’t affect me so why should I care?” This mentality is extremely harmful considering how often the US sends money to countries that are forcing the oppression. Eventually, I decided to talk about the ongoing humanitarian crises happening in Sudan.
What is happening in Sudan?
When first starting my research into this crisis, I needed to learn the basics about the war in Sudan. A brief explanation is on April 15th, 2023, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) started a violent conflict. This conflict has now displaced over eight million people who are dealing with not only the war, but also disease outbreak, economic instability, and climate emergencies. This conflict in 2023 was far from the beginning of conflict in Sudan. Omar al-Bashir was President from 2003-2019 and was an authoritarian ruler. When he was removed in 2019, there was hope that Sudan could become a civil country and begin to live more peacefully. Sadly, soon after al-Bashir was ousted, a coup led to this civilian government being disbanded and reigniting economic and political turmoil. Along with the war, Sudan is dealing with the effects of climate change through events such as extreme droughts and flooding. Now that I have given a bit of background, I am going to talk about the state of healthcare in the country.
Who is being affected?
Due to the ongoing war, two of the most groups that are affected are women and children. Women are struggling to receiving healthcare such as menstrual and pre and post-natal care. At the time of this article in June 2023, there were 260,000 pregnant women that would most likely be unable to receive any pre-natal care, and would face complications once it became time to give birth. Healthcare workers were being attacked and killed, and even hospitals were losing the ability to use generators for power. Medical warehouses were being occupied and medications that are needed (such as malaria medication) were no longer being distributed.
While the war has been going on, midwives and doctor’s in Sudan have refused to stop services despite being chased away from their clinics and medical supplies. Midwives under pseudonyms have talked about visiting pregnant women at home and delivering their babies. They talked about the horrific circumstances in which some women are forced to give birth. They talked about that some of the patients they see, the situation has been far too complicated and getting them help is impossible without the proper supplies.
“After the destruction of the centre, we visited pregnant women and girls at their homes. However, we faced access challenges and we couldn’t handle complicated cases,” explained Sara*, a midwife. “For some [pregnant women], we had to deliver them in the street.”
UNFPA on January 23, 2024
A bit of hope…
Recently, there has been a hope for the Sudanese citizens. On January 23, 2024, an article posted by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) called “A glimmer of hope for women and girls as a sexual and reproductive clinic reopens in Sudan’s West Darfur State”. This reopened clinic is providing critical healthcare support for 300,000 people, those that have been displaced from Sudan and from host communities helping refugees. The services from this clinic include sexual and reproductive help, support for those facing gender-based violence, and clinical management of rape. The clinic is also providing these services, including child deliveries and post-natal care, free of service. This clinic is not only providing healthcare services for those who need it, but brings a sense of security for those living nearby.
UNFPA has not only opened a clinic in West Darfur, but has opened nine temporary clinics that offer the same services in Al Jazira, Blue Nile, Gedaref, Kassala, and White Nile States.
Link below to donate to support pregnant women in Sudan.
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