Quick and nimble – mobile health services in Sudan
Dec 11, 2024 | By: Kieran McConville
One of the consequences of the current conflict in Sudan has been the systematic degradation of an already fragile health system, leaving millions of people exposed to disease, illness, and malnutrition. Concern has established a system of mobile health teams to help communities hold the line in the face of crisis.
A welcome arrival
It’s a Tuesday morning and Um Shalaya health center is bustling with activity, its corridors and treatment rooms filled with men, women, and children seeking – and receiving – medical assistance. But just a few short weeks ago, the scene was very different. “This facility wasn’t really functioning at all,” according to Concern’s Health and Nutrition Coordinator, Hamdoon Ismail. “There were almost no medical supplies here for months and treatment options were very limited.”
That’s a scenario that’s all-too-familiar across large parts of Sudan, which has experienced huge destruction and population displacement since fighting broke out in April 2023. Health centers and hospitals have been looted and sometimes destroyed and large numbers of healthcare workers have been among those displaced, leaving patients without support.
“Because of the dynamics, we need to be nimble and adaptive"
“It’s a problem that we’ve been working hard to address,” explains Sebit Ahmed, who is managing Concern’s emergency health and nutrition programs from the organization’s West Darfur headquarters in El Geneina. “Because of the dynamics, we need to be nimble and adaptive in how we respond. For now, rapid response mobile teams are an effective solution, allowing us to identify vulnerable communities and deliver humanitarian assistance as needed.”
In the case of Um Shalaya, which is in Central Darfur, the health center was physically intact and available for use. What was needed to make it operational were supplies and personnel. The mobile team will be based in the town for a minimum of 45 days – longer if needed – and receive regular deliveries of medicines and nutritional supplements from the Concern warehouse in El Geneina.
On the road
The team represents a broad spectrum of specialties, including a doctor, a midwife, a pharmacist, nurses, vaccinators, nutrition officers, and community mobilizers. They have taken up temporary residence in a nearby building, where sleeping quarters are tight and facilities are relatively basic. But there are few complaints among the team, who have embraced their new nomadic lifestyle. "We are excited to have the opportunity to use our skills and have a meaningful impact on the lives of our fellow Sudanese," says Abdulbasit Ibrahim, a Nutrition Nurse.
Securing a steady source of supplies for health facilities can be tortuous, especially in a country beset by war, but Concern has extensive experience of managing logistics in the region. Sebit Ahmed says that everything must come by road through neighboring Chad – humanitarian flight movements in West Darfur and throughout most of Sudan are non-existent, and this part of the country is cut off from access to the ports on the Red Sea. “Thankfully we have a well-established operation in Chad, which makes things easier in terms of permits and paperwork.”
“We have had hundreds of people showing up since word got out"
Back at the health center, Doctor Fatima Daoud checks Salwa Abaker’s vital signs and writes up a prescription for the appropriate medication which can be redeemed for free at the pharmacy just next door. She and her colleagues have been working flat out since the team established operations here just a few days earlier. “We have had hundreds of people showing up since word got out that the center is operational again,” explains Hamdoon Abdalla. “There’s a big demand for services.”
The clientele is a mix of people with different backgrounds and experiences. Some remained here while fighting raged all around them, some fled across the border to the camps in Chad and have now returned, and others have been displaced by the current conflict in cities like El Fasher, about 150 miles to the east.
A case in point
Child malnutrition is a serious problem here, with levels in the area well above the emergency threshold. 28-year-old Asha Ishge has brought her son Fidia'a to the center to see the Concern nutritionist, worried for the boy’s well being. She has carried him on the half-hour walk from a nearby displacement camp, where she lives with her family. Although Fidia'a is seven months old, he weighs less than 10 lbs – just over half of what his healthy weight should ideally be.
"These emergency mobile teams are providing a lifeline to people who have nowhere else to turn.”
Asha says she and her husband work as day laborers and don’t make enough money to buy sufficient food for their children. She lost a baby in childbirth in April 2023. Fidia'a will be on a course of high-nutrient therapeutic food for the next six to eight weeks, to help him regain weight. Asha can administer the treatment at home but must bring him back to the center each week so that the team can monitor his progress and provide fresh supplies.
Sebit Ahmed says the plan is to expand these mobile services to more vulnerable communities across West and Central Darfur, in an effort to stave off crisis. “Ultimately what we want is to see the recovery of the health system here and for facilities to be self-sufficient. That’s something we’re working towards, but in the meantime these emergency mobile teams are providing a lifeline to people who have nowhere else to turn.”
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Concern Worldwide has been in Sudan since 1985 and currently has operations in West and Central Darfur and West and South Kordofan, supporting conflict-affected communities with cash payments, health and nutrition services, and essential humanitarian supplies.
