The World Health Organization’s director‑general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on 8 February that three medical facilities in Sudan’s South Kordofan state were attacked between 3 and 5 February, leaving 31 people dead and 19 injured. Tedros said the casualties included women and children and reiterated that ‘‘the best medicine is peace,’’ urging all parties to stop the violence and protect civilians and health infrastructure.
The assaults come as fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied groups — including elements of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement‑North (SPLM‑N) — has intensified in parts of the Kordofan region. The broader conflict, which erupted in Khartoum on 15 April 2023, has since spread to multiple states, leaving almost 30,000 people dead and devastating public services across the country.
Health facilities in Sudan have frequently been struck or rendered inoperable since the fighting began, stripping communities of essential care at a time of acute humanitarian need. Destruction of hospitals and health clinics undermines routine services such as maternal and child care, immunisations and treatment for chronic diseases, and it raises the risk of outbreaks of vaccine‑preventable and waterborne diseases among displaced and besieged populations.
Beyond immediate casualties, attacks on medical infrastructure signal a breakdown in the norms and protections that underpin modern conflict law. Deliberate or indiscriminate strikes against hospitals are likely to amount to serious violations of international humanitarian law and complicate efforts by UN agencies and NGOs to deliver aid in insecure areas, where access is already constrained by front lines and checkpoints.
Tedros’s public appeal highlights both the humanitarian urgency and the limits of global influence: international calls for ceasefires, aid corridors and respect for protected sites have repeatedly failed to halt fighting. Absent credible enforcement or new diplomatic leverage on the main combatants, attacks on civilian infrastructure are likely to recur and to deepen the country’s humanitarian collapse.
The targeting of hospitals in South Kordofan is therefore not only a humanitarian tragedy but also a strategic blow to any near‑term recovery. Safeguarding medical services will be essential to stabilising communities and enabling any future political settlement, but achieving that protection will require more focused international pressure, improved monitoring and secure humanitarian access.