The war that erupted in April 2023 in Sudan has led to an unprecedented humanitarian health crisis, with routine vaccination coverage plunging to the lowest levels globally. The World Health Organization reports that while over 90% of Sudanese children received their routine vaccinations in 2022, by 2025 that figure had collapsed to just 48% — the worst rate in the world.
This precipitous decline is entirely due to the ongoing civil conflict, which has decimated healthcare infrastructure, displaced millions, and disrupted essential supply chains. UNICEF highlights that hundreds of thousands of healthcare workers — doctors, nurses, midwives, and community volunteers — have gone unpaid for months, and that critical facilities lack reliable electricity, clean water, and cold-chain systems necessary for vaccine storage.
In 2024 alone, an estimated 838,000 children in Sudan received no vaccinations at all — placing the country third globally for “zero‑dose” children, behind Nigeria and India. UNICEF and WHO warn that children living in conflict‑affected settings across Sudan are three times more likely to miss essential jabs like DTP‑1 — the first dose of the diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis vaccine — than those in stable environments.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reports a major measles outbreak in Darfur. From June 2024 to May 2025, MSF treated nearly 10,000 measles patients across Central, East and West Darfur. Approximately 2,700 required hospitalization and 35 children died. Surrounding regions including Jebel Marra and Zalengei are experiencing renewed outbreaks despite late‑stage vaccination campaigns.
Global trends compound the crisis: over 14 million children worldwide missed all routine vaccinations in 2024, with Sudan, Nigeria, India, and Ethiopia accounting for the majority of these zero‑dose cases. WHO and UNICEF express deep concern that stagnating vaccine funding and rising misinformation are endangering years of progress. Measles vaccination coverage globally hovers at just 76%, far below the 95% needed to maintain herd immunity, triggering outbreaks across 60 countries.
Despite these dire circumstances, some immunisation efforts have continued. In late 2024, Gavi, UNICEF, and Save the Children pledged USD 23.4 million to support Sudan’s immunisation efforts, attempting to uphold routine vaccination services in hard‑to‑reach and conflict‑affected regions. But these efforts have been continually undermined by funding shortages and active fighting.
Sudan’s introduction of the malaria vaccine in November 2024 raised cautious optimism. The country became the first in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region to roll out the RTS,S (Mosquirix) malaria vaccine, offering the first dose to infants in high‑risk states such as Gedaref and Blue Nile and targeting 129 localities in 2025–26. However, its broader success remains uncertain amid the ongoing collapse of health service infrastructure.
Agencies have also worked behind frontlines to restore supply routes across the country—notably, opening vaccine corridors via Chad and South Sudan to bypass conflict zones. These efforts aim to support a planned mass “catch‑up” campaign in 2025 to reach millions of children who missed their jabs during the pandemic and war.
Experts emphasize the human cost: vaccine‑preventable diseases like measles and polio persist, diseases which can be deadly or leave survivors with lifelong complications. Dr Tedbabe Degefie Hailegebriel of UNICEF Sudan has warned that each child who misses DTP‑1 likely also has almost zero contact with any healthcare system, stripping families not only of protection from disease but trust in care provision.
With schools, clinics, and roads razed and millions displaced, health interventions remain perilously fragile. International agencies argue that urgent, sustained investment is essential. Without such support, they warn, Sudan risks the complete collapse of immunisation, leaving a generation of children exposed to preventable illness and death and endangering decades of global public health achievement
