Sudan: MSF launches emergency response in North Kordofan

In the heart of this vast area lies the city of El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state, which has been a significant place of refuge for displaced families fleeing violence. Living conditions here are precarious: Access to health care is limited, safe drinking water is scarce, and sanitation facilities are insufficient to meet rapidly growing needs.

In response, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) launched emergency activities in El Obeid in late January. The first phase of this response focuses on improving water and sanitation services in the city’s main displacement site. 

“El Obeid lost many of its original residents, but today it hosts tens of thousands of displaced people who settled here in different moments of the war,” says Al Tayeb Mahmoud Mahammed, MSF’s team leader in El Obeid. “With the front line less than 25 miles away, the city continues to receive new arrivals almost daily. People arriving here are deeply scared as the fighting draws closer. Yet they still feel safer than where they came from, where they were exposed to violence, looting, and beatings.”

New arrivals face shortages of water and sanitation

Al-Mina Al-Muwahad, the main displacement site in El Obeid, hosts approximately 25,000 people, according to MSF's assessment at the end of January 2026. At the site, MSF saw an alarming lack of services for the amount of people living there, including severely inadequate sanitation services, with 500 people sharing one latrine at times. 

There is also limited access to safe drinking water, with only 3 liters available for each person per day. This significantly increases the risk of disease outbreaks, placing children, pregnant women, and the elderly at heightened risk. 

MSF is strengthening water and sanitation services in the camp by constructing additional latrines, installing water storage equipment, and supporting community-based disease and nutrition surveillance through Ministry of Health community health volunteers. As people’s needs far exceed the capacity of an already fragile health system, MSF is coordinating with the local authorities to support the provision of health care activities in the camp as well as at El Obeid Teaching hospital.

Intense fighting is driving up needs in El Obeid

MSF’s current response in El Obeid follows months of engagement with local and federal authorities to gain access to the city. In July 2025, we launched a remote response to provide support through trainings and technical advice for the Ministry of Health during a cholera outbreak. In September last year we found major humanitarian needs among the community, as well as cases of measles and cholera, during an assessment carried out on site.

“As fighting continues and displacement rises, humanitarian needs across Sudan remain immense and largely unmet,” says Marta Cazorla, MSF head of operations in eastern Sudan. “We are grateful to be finally present and operating in El Obeid, something that was not possible for the larger part of the conflict due to access constraints.” 

“This response is a critical step, but far more assistance is urgently needed to prevent further loss of life and degradation of dignity,” says Cazorla. “MSF teams are currently ready, and supplies are prepared, to expand the response in El Obeid, as well as to assess and respond in other areas across the Kordofans as needs evolve and access allows. Right now, for example, we have teams ready to provide medical care in South Kordofan.”

MSF in Sudan 

MSF runs or supports 20 hospitals and 16 health care centers in Sudan. Our medical teams provide surgical care, wound management, physiotherapy, maternity, nutrition and pediatric services, general health care, routine and reactive vaccination campaigns, and mental health support in eight of country’s 18 states.