On 3 November 2025, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the World Health Organization (WHO) signed a three-year funding and implementation agreement for the Sudan Health Emergency and Infrastructure Project (SHEIP). The project aims to enhance access to quality health care across Sudan, focusing on essential health service delivery, emergency preparedness and response, and building resilient health systems to better serve vulnerable communities.
Through SHEIP, WHO will strengthen health emergency response while supporting early recovery and long-term resilience of the health system by restoring critical services disrupted by years of conflict. Dr. Shible Sahbani, WHO Representative in Sudan, emphasized the importance of implementing response and recovery in parallel, while Dr. Alex Mubiru of AfDB highlighted the bank’s confidence in WHO’s expertise in managing complex health emergencies.
The partnership will focus on rehabilitating targeted health facilities, providing essential medical equipment and supplies, and equipping primary health care facilities to deliver conflict-sensitive health and nutrition services. Capacity-building initiatives will ensure quality care, including infection prevention and control, waste management, and performance-related training. WHO will also enhance emergency preparedness through improved disease surveillance, training, and deployment of rapid response teams.
Key regions of focus include White Nile, Kordofan, Darfur, and parts of Khartoum, where prolonged hardship has severely limited access to health care. According to recent HeRAMS data, only 48% of health facilities in Sudan are fully functional, 12% are partially functional, and 40% are non-functional. The project is expected to benefit at least 6 million people, including 3 million women and 1.2 million internally displaced persons, restoring essential health services and supporting the population’s right to health.
