War-torn Sudan forces cancer patients to travel hundreds of miles for care

The ongoing civil war in Sudan, which erupted in 2023, has seen repeated assaults on hospitals, collapsing an already fragile health network. As a result, individuals with chronic illnesses, including cancer, must travel great distances to receive any treatment. Cervical-cancer patient Fatouma Mahdi Ahmed Saeed, diagnosed in Nyala, trekked hundreds of miles to the Mother of Mercy hospital in the Nuba Mountains, where missionary surgeon Tom Catena, the sole permanent surgeon there, administers chemotherapy in a crowded ward.

Doctors Without Borders reports that a substantial portion of Sudan’s health facilities have been destroyed, and the World Health Organization estimates that about 37% of centers are no longer operational. Supply chains for chemotherapy drugs are disrupted, and the hospital must send biopsy samples abroad, often waiting months for results. Patients such as 10-year-old osteosarcoma victim Ifrah Ahmed also endure extreme travel, sometimes arriving only after their disease has advanced dramatically.