WHO Condemns Attacks on Healthcare and Civilians as violence Escalates in El Fasher, sudan
Geneva/El fasher – The World Health Institution (WHO) has strongly condemned the escalating violence in El Fasher, Sudan, and the resulting attacks on patients, healthcare workers, and civilians, demanding an immediate end to hostilities and safe, unimpeded humanitarian access to the besieged city.
Over 260,000 people remain trapped in El Fasher with severely limited access to essential resources, including food, clean water, and medical care. Recent days have seen approximately 28,000 people forced to flee El Fasher Town, with 26,000 seeking refuge in rural areas of El Fasher and up to 2,000 moving to Tawila. A further 100,000 people are anticipated to arrive in tawila in the coming weeks, joining the 575,000 already displaced from El Fasher who are sheltering there and in other locations. A significant proportion of those displaced are women and unaccompanied children,facing critical shortages of shelter,protection,food,water,and healthcare.
The deteriorating security situation is exacerbating a public health crisis. A rapid spread of cholera is occurring due to lack of access to safe water, with disease surveillance and response activities severely hampered. As of this year, El Fasher has reported 272 suspected cases of cholera and 32 deaths, resulting in an alarming case fatality rate of nearly 12%. Across the entire Darfur region, 18,468 cases and 662 deaths have been recorded in 40 localities.
El Fasher has been cut off from humanitarian aid since February 2025,leading to a sharp rise in malnutrition,particularly among children and pregnant women,which weakens immunity and increases vulnerability to infectious diseases like cholera and malaria. Many families have depleted their food stocks and lost access to markets.
Despite access restrictions,WHO teams are working to maintain essential health services where possible,particularly in areas receiving displaced populations. Twenty metric tons of WHO medicines and emergency kits, including supplies for cholera treatment and the management of severe acute malnutrition with medical complications, are being transported from Nyala to tawila to support medical and rapid-response teams. Health supplies delivered to partners in Abeche, Chad, are being expedited for delivery to Tawila and other gathering locations.
WHO is coordinating with health partners at reception sites in Korma, between el Fasher and Tawila, to stabilize critically ill and injured individuals and facilitate referrals to Tawila. Rapid response teams are being prepared for deployment within Tawila and surrounding areas to address the urgent health needs of those arriving from El Fasher. WHO trucks are on standby in darfur, ready to join a UN aid convoy carrying food, medicines, and lifesaving health supplies into El Fasher as soon as access is granted.
The WHO is urgently calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities in El Fasher and throughout Sudan, emphasizing the need to protect civilians, humanitarian workers, and healthcare facilities. The organization reiterates its demand for safe, rapid, and unimpeded humanitarian access to deliver critical aid to those in need.
