Amid Conflict and Destruction, Sudanese Midwives Provide Hope
Despite Sudan’s failing healthcare system, midwives like Hawaa Ismael are risking their lives to deliver infants and care for mothers in war-torn Khartoum. Due to the continuous violence, less than 25% of medical facilities remain operational, forcing pregnant women to wander for hours or even days in search of care. Some people never arrive on time. According to Ismael, a midwife at the Karari Health Centre, which is sponsored by the UNFPA, “delivering a woman in a car was the hardest case I faced. “We were stranded. She was complicated. I have shed countless tears, particularly when ladies are unable to reach us.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) reports that over 750,000 individuals in Sudan have benefited from reproductive health services since the conflict began. However, a lack of maternity or gender-based violence support services for over half a million women in Sudan and its neighbouring countries is a danger due to recent budget cuts.
Ismael still gives birth to up to four kids per day despite the risk. In what she describes as a mission of necessity, she travels to houses and crosses frontlines: “We examine pregnant women, guide them, and do monthly follow-ups.”
At least 24,000 people have died and almost 13 million have been displaced by the conflict. According to human rights organisations, the battle has resulted in one of the biggest humanitarian catastrophes in history, characterised by mass rape, hunger, and ethnic brutality.
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