SOUTH SUDAN HEALTH CARE CRISIS: MSF WARNS OF ESCALATING HEALTH CRISIS IN SOUTH SUDAN

HEALTH SYSTEMS COLLAPSE AS VIOLENCE SURGES IN SOUTH SUDAN OVER 60,000 DISPLACED, HEALTH ACCESS COLLAPSES IN SOUTH SUDAN MSF

The international medical organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has sounded the alarm over the deteriorating humanitarian and health situation in South Sudan, amid what it describes as the worst spike in violence since the 2018 peace agreement. In a press briefing held in Nairobi, MSF painted a grim picture of communities left without healthcare, mass displacement, and an alarming increase in direct attacks on medical facilities.

Since February 2025, violent clashes in Upper Nile and Jonglei states have displaced over As people flee, they are forced to leave behind vital service centres hospitals, clinics, vaccination points creating health deserts,

In Upper Nile State’s Ulang County, MSF was forced to shut down its secondary hospital and 14 decentralized primary health facilities following an armed looting incident in April. In Jonglei’s Fangak County, MSF had to relocate operations after an aerial bombing damaged its hospital in Old Fangak, which had served over 110,000 people since 2014.

“We are talking about a major conflict that is taking place over multiple fronts and multiple locations,” said MSF’s operations manager Bakri Abubakr.

“We are witnessing a collapsing health system in the country,” he said, adding that only half of South Sudan’s medical facilities were operational even before the latest fighting.

MSF currently runs 14 projects in South Sudan across six states and two administrative areas. These include emergency services, maternal and child healthcare, response to disease outbreaks, and mental health care. However, several operations have been suspended or scaled down due to insecurity. In Yei and Morobo counties, for instance, outreach activities were suspended again in early May due to ongoing conflict.

In its message to all armed actors in the country, MSF reiterated that health facilities must be respected and protected at all times, regardless of conflict dynamics.

Compounding the crisis is the influx of more than one million people fleeing the war in Sudan, as well as growing instability in the wider region including renewed tensions in Ethiopia. These regional shocks are putting additional strain on South Sudan’s fragile infrastructure and overstretched humanitarian network.

“We see a rise of attacks on health care facilities, medical personnel, civilian population,” said MSF’s Abdalla Hussein, including attacks on White River Nile barges carrying vital supplies and looting of remote outposts.

As the risk of full-scale civil war looms, MSF warns that without urgent international attention and guarantees of safe access, the situation could spiral into a catastrophe with far-reaching consequences for South Sudan and regional stability.

“We are yet to see the worst,” he added.