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Sudan

Health Cluster Sudan: Attacks on health care (August 2024)

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Context:

Since the fighting began in Sudan on 15 April 2023, attacks on health care have been a regular feature of the conflict. Partners and the media have been reporting direct violence, collateral damage, looting, intimidation, and other violations, against health workers, health facilities, allied services such as ambulances, and patients themselves, on an almost daily basis.

WHO’s Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care (SSA) has published over 100 incidents of attacks on health care, Seventeen of these were reported in August 2024 alone, leading to 31 deaths and 21 injuries of health workers and patients.

However, in view of the limited access to many parts of the country, difficulties in getting information, and lack of verifiable data, it can be assumed that the number on the SSA is an under-representation of the realities on the ground. This may also drive a bias against capturing incidents of attacks of a “softer” nature, including direct assaults against health workers, health workers and patient detention/arrest/abduction, as well as psychological threats of violence against health care.