Under shelling and gunfire, Esraa cradled her newborn son. When war broke out in Sudan in April 2023, she was trying to reach a health clinic to get treatment for her baby, who had been battling infections and breathing difficulties. But with roads blocked by fighting, the young mother never made it to the clinic; her son died in her arms.
When she became pregnant again in August last year, she was haunted by the fear of losing another child. “There is only one functioning maternity hospital in Khartoum,” says Esraa. “It is incredibly dangerous to move around the city – one of our neighbours died on the way to the hospital.”
Throughout the war, Esraa and her family were forced to move repeatedly, as areas that were safe one day turned deadly the next. They eventually found refuge in a shelter packed with other displaced people from Khartoum.
“It was like passing from one grave to another”
Once Sudan’s largest city, Khartoum now has vast areas that resemble ghost towns. In shelters set up for people forced from their homes, conditions are dire: overcrowding is rampant and basic hygiene products are almost non-existent. Food is also increasingly scarce, forcing many people to battle extreme hunger as Sudan faces the worst levels of acute food insecurity ever recorded in the country.
As the crisis worsens and diseases such as polio and cholera spread, access to healthcare has become one of the most critical issues for the population of Khartoum. Most medical facilities have been forced to stop operating due to destruction and a severe lack of supplies.
“I was five months pregnant when I arrived at the shelter,” Esraa said. “For me, it was like going from one grave to another. We were constantly waiting for something bad to happen. Hope had no place in our hearts.”
Midwives and other health professionals at the Maternity Hospital in Khartoum, Sudan.
Roving Responders
Amid these dire conditions, a UNFPA-supported mobile health team arrived at the shelter to provide reproductive health services and protection to the women and girls living there. “Mobile health teams play a crucial role in preventing maternal deaths by offering a wide range of medical services in war-affected areas of Sudan,” said Mohamed Hasan Nahat, coordinator of the team.
Esraa received prenatal care and micronutrients from the team, who visited periodically to care for her and the other women and girls at the shelter. “Not only did they help me with medical care, but they also gave me a sense of security and hope that I hadn’t felt in months,” she said.
Four months later, Esraa gave birth to a healthy baby boy, with the help of the mobile team. “I gave birth in the shelter. They took care of me and the baby – I even named him Mohamed, after the doctor who treated me.”
UNFPA has deployed 56 mobile health teams in 11 states across Sudan, providing sexual and reproductive health services, as well as protection and response to gender-based violence. Since the war began, the teams – which include doctors, pharmacists, laboratory technicians, psychologists and midwives – have conducted more than 150,000 medical consultations.
Midwives and other health professionals at the Maternity Hospital in Khartoum, Sudan.
Although they are saving lives and providing the only medical assistance many have received, aid workers like social worker Nisreen Kamal Abdulla felt there was still more they wanted to do for these communities.
“The time available at the clinic was not enough to treat all the people; we should visit each community more frequently to reach more people and provide consistent care,” she told UNFPA. “Most of the women we met who had psychological problems abandoned their treatment because they cannot afford the medicines.”
Reaching remote communities
Team mobility is critical to increasing access to vital services in remote areas and preventing maternal deaths due to unsafe births and high-risk pregnancies. Too often, a lack of transport means that many people simply cannot get to a health facility in time or at all.
On average, a team will cover three different locations per week, spending one to two days at each, depending on the size and needs of the community.
“Although I did not leave Khartoum during the war and continued to work in its hospitals, this experience was different,” explained Dr. Nahat.
“I reached remote areas and connected with people I had not been able to reach before. It was a great encouragement for them to know that there are organizations that care about them and do not abandon them.”
