UNFPA Sudan Emergency Situation Report #7 - 29 October 2023

As the conflict enters its seventh month, ensuring protection and reproductive health remains a top priority. UNFPA has increased its response capacity by collaborating with new operational partners. While facing challenges related to security, humanitarian access, and administrative constraints, UNFPA is able to operate through implementing partners in hard-to-reach areas. About 600 Midwifery Kits are being distributed to community midwives in nine states. Moreover, UNFPA initiated a second cross-border response, delivering 3,000 dignity kits from Chad to West Darfur. During a briefing to Member States on October 4, the Humanitarian Coordinator highlighted a notable increase in reports of sexual and gender-based violence in Sudan.

According to the latest UN estimates, more than 5.6 million people have been displaced inside and outside Sudan due to the conflict that erupted in mid-April between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). This includes 4.6 million people who are internally displaced, including 3.4 million women and girls of reproductive age, among whom an estimated 109,000 are currently pregnant and in need of timely access to lifesaving and essential reproductive health services. Nearly 15,000 women are likely to experience pregnancy and birth related complications including the need for Cesarean section. Moreover, over the course of the coming three months, around 36,000 displaced women are expected to give birth.