WHO warns Sudan’s health crisis is worsening as disease outbreaks spread

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned in mid-January that Sudan’s prolonged conflict is pushing the country deeper into a humanitarian and public-health emergency, with outbreaks accelerating as basic services deteriorate. In a briefing on January 13, 2026, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described conditions of overcrowding, weak sanitation, and disrupted routine immunization that are creating fertile ground for the spread of infectious disease.

According to the WHO remarks, tens of millions of people are expected to need humanitarian aid this year, and displacement has reached levels that the agency characterized as the world’s largest. The combination of displacement, limited access to safe water, and a strained health system has amplified vulnerability to outbreaks and made it harder for authorities and aid groups to track, treat, and prevent infections.

WHO said it is supporting responses to multiple outbreaks, including cholera, dengue, malaria, and measles. But the organization underscored that response capacity is constrained not only by funding gaps and supply shortages, but also by damage to health infrastructure and the risks faced by health workers trying to operate in contested or insecure areas.

A central concern is the condition of Sudan’s health facilities. WHO noted that sustained efforts to restore services have not fully compensated for the scale of disruption, with a significant portion of health facilities remaining non-functional. That reality has cascading effects: fewer functioning clinics and hospitals means less routine care, less immunization, and weaker surveillance—conditions that allow outbreaks to grow before they are identified.

The agency called for safe, unrestricted access for humanitarian and health operations, protection for civilians and medical personnel, and an end to attacks that further degrade health services. The message was framed as both a practical request and a moral appeal, emphasizing that health systems cannot recover while violence continues.

WHO also used the briefing to highlight broader health-policy tools that can help countries sustain services, including “health taxes” on tobacco, alcohol, and sugary drinks, while acknowledging that conflict settings require urgent stabilization and access first. In Sudan’s case, the agency’s core point was direct: peace and access are prerequisites to reversing the widening health emergency.