Sudan

Start of program: 2021

Country key figures:

48 million inhabitants

14.3 million persons in need*

4 million internally displaced persons and refugees

10.9 million people in Sudan are food insecure

ALIMA’s key figures:

Over 2,515 deliveries, including 647 c-sections

3,714 outpatient consultations for children under five years of age

168 Sudanese Ministry of Health staff trained in oxygen therapy, hygiene and sanitation best practices and infection prevention and control, among other topics

Areas of intervention:

Conflicts and population displacement

Nutrition

Maternal Health

Country context

Sudan is the third largest country by area in Africa, and has a population of 48 million inhabitants. Several years of armed conflict, political instability, natural disasters, epidemics, and economic crises have contributed to the complex situation that Sudan is currently experiencing, with approximately 14.3 million Sudanese people in need of humanitarian aid. Access to basic health services remains a challenge for all, and particularly for isolated communities following decades of conflict.

ALIMA, officially registered in Sudan in April 2021, works currently in the states of Khartoum and South Kordofan rehabilitating health facilities, training local health care workers and providing hard-to-reach populations with access to primary healthcare services.

ALIMA’s Impact – Our fieldwork

Supporting local medical structures and healthcare professionals

ALIMA builds the capacity of Sudanese Ministry of Health (MoH) staff by conducting training sessions for nurses and midwives on a variety of topics, such as blood transfusion, and infection prevention and control. ALIMA also supports the MoH structures in terms of water, sanitation and hygiene issues, as well as on waste management.

Ensuring access to healthcare in Kadugli

ALIMA provides access to high-quality, emergency care for pregnant and lactating women and children under the age of five in South Kordofan state by working through local facilities and organizing mobile clinics. At the Kadugli Teaching Hospital in the state’s capital city, ALIMA has renovated the 45-bed maternity ward. ALIMA teams also supply key medical equipment and drugs, and support technical training of medical staff. Since November 2021, ALIMA has supported 2,515 deliveries, and enabled 1,143 pediatric hospitalizations for children under five years of age.

Providing access to oxygen

Oxygen therapy is essential for optimal treatment of patients with respiratory distress, including COVID-19. ALIMA is working to increase access to medical oxygen by installing a PSA (Pressure Swing Adsorption) Oxygen Plant at the Al Shaab Hospital, a 350-bed specialist referral hospital for cardiac and respiratory diseases in Khartoum which also is designated as a referral COVID-19 Treatment Center for severe cases. The new PSA Oxygen Plant will give general wards and the operating theater direct access to oxygen. MoH staff are also being trained on Oxygen Therapy for optimal case management and on preventive and curative maintenance of key biomedical equipment.

Responding to COVID-19 in Khartoum

To help respond to the COVID-19 epidemic ALIMA launched a project in 2021 supporting the Omdurman Isolation Center in the capital Khartoum in collaboration with the Sudanese Federal Ministry of Health. ALIMA teams facilitated the management of COVID-19 cases in the center through human resources support and training, as well as providing medical supplies (medicines and equipment).

*Source: (Humanitarian Needs Overview 2022)