Child Vaccinations Plummet as Sudan’s Health Crisis Deepens

17/07/2025 20:25 

KHARTOUM / EL GENEINA

Hospital staff in West Darfur receive yellow fever vaccinations (File Photo: Albert González Farran / UNAMID)

Sudan’s childhood immunisation rate has dropped to just 48 per cent, the lowest in more than 40 years, down from 94 per cent in 2022, according to the World Health Organisation and UN Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) officials on Wednesday. The collapse has left nearly 880,000 infants unprotected against preventable diseases like tetanus, pertussis, and diphtheria.

The war has devastated Sudan’s healthcare system, halting services and disrupting vaccine access. Though UNICEF delivered 16 million vaccine doses in the first half of 2025, including 3.5 million to Darfur, officials warn this is far from enough.

Sudan’s pharmaceutical sector is slowly beginning to recover. Dr Ali Babiker, Secretary-General of the National Council for Drugs and Toxins, announced that several factories in Khartoum, including the General Company for Pharmaceuticals, have resumed limited production. He added that other sites are working to restore capacity despite the extensive damage caused by the conflict.

The war has destroyed around 85 per cent of Sudan’s industrial sector, leaving medicine supplies scarce. Many pharmaceutical factories remain non-operational due to looting, displacement, and infrastructure damage.

Torrential rains

In West Darfur, heavy rains have once again flooded El Geneina, isolating parts of the city and bringing transport and trade to a halt. Only four-wheel-drive vehicles can cross the city’s last remaining crossing, the recently repaired Ardamata Bridge, making movement challenging.

Local journalist, Alaa Eldin Babiker, told Radio Dabanga that market activity has all but stopped, with memories of last year’s floods still fresh in residents’ minds.

Despite poor government preparedness, farming communities across West and Central Darfur are pressing ahead with this year’s planting season. Refugees have begun returning to take part in rain-fed agriculture, though soaring fuel and food prices threaten their efforts.

Farmer Mohamed Abakar from West Darfur warned that without urgent intervention, the season could fail. “Fuel costs are too high, and prices of basic goods are skyrocketing,” he told Radio Dabanga.