Sudan needs $2.2 bln for first year of health sector rehab, minister says
April 13, 2025 (PORT SUDAN) – Sudan needs $2.2 billion for the first year of rehabilitating its health sector, which has suffered estimated losses of $11 billion due to the ongoing conflict, Health Minister Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim said on Sunday.
The $11 billion loss represents 20% of the total damage incurred by the country’s services sector since fighting erupted, Ibrahim stated.
“The amount needed for urgent projects to rebuild the health sector during the first year is $2.2 billion; we are working to secure it with the state and donors,” Ibrahim told the Sudan Tribune news outlet.
He pointed out that orthopedic cases requiring treatment and prosthetic limbs due to shrapnel and gunfire have exceeded 6,000 since the conflict began on April 15, 2023.
Ibrahim also reported that the rate of acute malnutrition among children had reached 15%, adding that a rate of 6% generally requires hospitalization for treatment.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has projected that 3.2 million children in Sudan will suffer from acute malnutrition this year. This includes 770,000 children facing severe acute malnutrition (SAM), a condition making them 11 times more likely to die from illness.
Separately, the Preliminary Committee of the Sudan Doctors Syndicate said on Saturday that deaths among children due to malnutrition have reached 45,000 since the war began.
On Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Sudan, Shible Sahbani, stated that 20.3 million Sudanese – 40% of the population – need urgent health assistance.
Sahbani noted that the destruction of the health sector has deprived millions of people of access to healthcare. He added that two-thirds of Sudan’s states have reported outbreaks of diseases including malaria, cholera, dengue fever, and measles.
He also highlighted widespread malnutrition, with 3.7 million people requiring nutritional interventions.
The WHO has verified 156 attacks on healthcare facilities during the conflict, resulting in 318 deaths and 273 injuries, Sahbani said.