Fight for Freedom - The Forgotten War in the Nuba Mountains.

Sudan

Our work there at a glance:

  • Medical care
  • Construction & operation of a hospital complex
  • Further training for local staff
  • Deployment of emergency physicians, nurses
  • Vaccination program for children

Our goal

Medical care for people who have fled from war and violence to the Nuba Mountains.

Work between war and peace

Sudan has been the stage of armed conflict for years. How do you react when bombs are suddenly dropped on the hospital? Nurse Johannes Plate reports on work in the war zone.

Latest news

Project reports

View all project reports

Key health data

Life expectancy

65/61 years

(women/men)

Infant mortality

49

per 1,000 births

Doctors

0,3

per 1,000 inhabitants

Cap Anamur engagement in Sudan.

1985 – 1992
1997 – today

The situation in Sudan

Political situation

For decades, Sudan has been the scene of armed conflict between the official government and rebel groups. The secession of an independent South Sudan from the North in 2011 intensified the fighting, especially in the border province of South Kordofan. The Uprising movement led to the removal of the president in 2019 and a new transitional government made up of civilians and the military. However, a new coup by the military in 2021 has aggravated the situation again.

Social situation.

The civilian population is suffering most from the fighting between rebels and government troops, fleeing their home villages, which are often under fire, and seeking shelter in the caves of the Nuba Mountains. However, lack of food, low water reserves and poor medical care quickly turn life in the mountains into a struggle for survival.

Many families from the surrounding villages have been living in shelter in mountain caves (Tabanja region) for months.
Many families from the surrounding villages have been living in shelter in mountain caves (Tabanja region) for months. During bombardments they hide in the caves. Many are sick and severely traumatised by the almost daily bombing terror.

Cap Anamur has been providing basic medical care in the Nuba Mountains since 1997 with its own hospital in Lwere, treating over 200,000 people annually.

Fight for Freedom – The Forgotten War in the Nuba Mountains. Many people from the surrounding villages have fled to the caves near Tongoli because of the bombing terror.

Rounds at Cap Anamur Hospital in Lwere: Raphael Veicht (Cap Anamur nurse and organiser).
Rounds at Cap Anamur Hospital in Lwere: Raphael Veicht (Cap Anamur nurse and organiser).

Our engagement in Sudan

In 1997, we built a hospital in the middle of the Nuba Mountains, which Cap Anamur still runs today and continues to develop both structurally and medically. By now, it has become a well-functioning hospital complex with an outpatient clinic, operating room, laboratory and a newly built maternity ward, as well as 3 other clinics within a radius of 150 km.

We offer our patients a wide range of counselling and treatment services as well as the possibility of being admitted as inpatients in the event of serious illnesses and, if necessary, of being operated on and receiving follow-up care. The doctors and nurses deployed by us permanently train the local staff in all specialist areas.

With now 3 outposts within a radius of about 150 kilometres, we were able to expand our help significantly.

200,000 patients

In total, we reach over 200,000 patients a year with our work in Sudan.

every 6 months

We replenish the medication stocks every six months with a large delivery.

> 42,000 vaccinated children

We run an area-wide vaccination program, immunizing over 42,000 children annually against polio, measles, tuberculosis, diphtheria, pertussis, hepatitis and tetanus.

What happens next

After much political change in the Nuba Mountains in 2020, there was another military coup in 2021, which continues to cause further suffering among the civilian population to this day. As an integral part of the local community, we will continue to assist the local population with our basic health care services. Whether we can expand our radius of action to include new areas will depend on the threat situation at the time.

It is clear that in 2023 we will again be sending highly qualified medical professionals to the project to provide further training for local employees. In addition, we will undertake further construction measures at the hospital complex.

Dispensing medicines at the hospital in Lwere.
Dispensing medicines at the hospital in Lwere.