Map

Background

After gaining independence in 1956, Sudan was involved in two lengthy civil wars, each lasting decades. After several peace talks and the signing of a number of accords, the final North-South Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed in 2005, granted the southern rebels autonomy for six years, to be trailed by a referendum on independence for

Southern Sudan

A referendum held in January 2011 indicated vast support for independence of 98%. South Sudan became independent on 9 July 2011. Since then, Sudan has been fighting rebels in two states: Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile.
In Darfur, western region of Sudan, a new conflict broke out in 2003, displacing approximately 2 million people and resulted in an estimated 400,000 casualties. In 2007, the UN took control of the peacekeeping operation in Darfur from the African Union. They have struggled to steady the situation, which has developing into regional instability, bringing insecurity to eastern Chad as well.
Furthermore, Sudan has been met with numerous refugee arrivals from neighboring countries.

Economy

Since the export of oil began in 1999, much of Sudan’s GDP growth has been boosted, and the economy boomed for nearly a decade with increased oil production and prices, as well as more incoming foreign direct investment. Following South Sudan’s independence- the region of the country that had been responsible for about three-fourths of the former Sudan’s total oil production- Sudan has struggled to maintain economic stability, because oil earnings now provide a far lower share of the country’s need for hard currency and for budget revenues. Sudan is endeavoring to create new sources of income, such as from gold mining, while carrying out an austerity program to reduce expenditures.
Agricultural production continues to employ 80% of the work force. Most farmlands remain mostly dependent on rain and are susceptible to drought. Ongoing conflicts in Southern Kordofan, Darfur, and the Blue Nile states, as well as a lack of basic infrastructure in large regions, bad weather conditions, and the dependence of most of the population on subsistence agriculture all project that a large percentage of the population will remain at or below the poverty line.

Health

In rural areas, little health care is available in Sudan, contributing to a relatively low average life expectancy of 57 years and an infant mortality rate of 69 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Due to the civil war Sudan had undergone, most resources were diverted to military expenditure that instead of developing health care and training professionals, many of whom have migrated in pursuit of more profitable employment.
In 1996, the World Health Organization estimated that there were only 9 doctors per 100,000 people, mostly in regions other than the South, and significant fractions of the population lack access to safe water and sanitary facilities.
Malnutrition is widespread outside the central Nile corridor because of population displacement from war and from recurrent droughts; these same factors together with a scarcity of medicines make diseases difficult to control.

Major infectious diseases:
Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever
Vectorborne diseases: malaria, dengue fever, African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness)
Respiratory disease: meningococcal meningitis

Malaria Status

Currently, a high burden of malaria-related morbidity and mortality exists in Sudan. However, the national malaria control programme, in collaboration with the partner for the programme WHO, has decreased the number of malaria cases from more than 4 million in 2000 to less than one million in 2010. In the span of a decade, the number of deaths due to malaria reduced by almost more than 75%.
The implementation of appropriate and cost-effective malaria control interventions includes the distribution of artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) treatments, rapid diagnostic tests and long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs), and the introduction of the home-based management of malaria strategy. In remote villages, access to curative and diagnostic facilities is limited. The home-based management of malaria has been identified as one of the strategies to reduce the burden of malaria, especially in malaria-endemic areas, with the result that diagnosis and treatment has been brought nearer the home and the community so that treatment can be given within 24-hours of the onset of symptoms.