OCHA reports 71 aid workers killed in Sudan as humanitarian funding crisis deepens

At least 71 humanitarian workers were killed and 28 injured in Sudan during 2025, as attacks on aid operations, restricted access and severe funding shortages undermined the delivery of life-saving assistance, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

In its Annual Report 2025, OCHA identifies Sudan as one of the countries facing the most severe humanitarian challenges, highlighting the growing dangers confronting aid workers and the consequences of shrinking resources for millions of people in need.

The report says attacks on humanitarian personnel continued to rise globally for the third consecutive year. At least 350 aid workers were killed across 23 countries in 2025, with national staff accounting for 98 per cent of those killed.

Sudan recorded at least 71 deaths and 28 injuries among humanitarian workers, including in direct attacks on aid convoys and humanitarian facilities.

OCHA says insecurity, administrative restrictions, and the politicisation of humanitarian assistance increasingly obstructed operations, making it more difficult and expensive to reach vulnerable communities.

Funding supports famine response

Despite the funding crisis, Sudan received USD 214.47 million in allocations through OCHA-managed humanitarian funding mechanisms during 2025.

The allocations comprised USD 167.47 million through country-based and regional humanitarian pooled funds, USD 25 million through the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) for rapid response, and USD 22 million through CERF’s underfunded emergencies mechanism.

OCHA says pooled funds supported large-scale humanitarian responses to famine conditions in Sudan, helping fill critical gaps where other sources of funding fell short.

Globally, OCHA-managed pooled funds mobilised USD 1.32 billion and allocated USD 1.5 billion across 38 countries during the year.

However, the overall humanitarian funding crisis forced organisations to concentrate resources on people facing the most severe and life-threatening needs, leaving millions without planned assistance.

The report says that only 98 million people worldwide received some form of humanitarian assistance in 2025, 18 million fewer than in the previous year.

More than 180 health facilities lose support

Health services were among the sectors hardest hit by the global funding reductions.

OCHA reports that more than 180 health facilities in Sudan lost funding support, affecting approximately 2.7 million people.

Across 22 countries, 6,600 health facilities were affected by funding cuts, with one-third forced to suspend operations. An estimated 52 million people worldwide lost access to health services.

The report warns that funding reductions have consequences beyond the immediate loss of medical treatment, undermining essential services for communities already affected by conflict, displacement, and hunger.

Adre crossing remains critical to Darfur

Humanitarian access remained one of the defining challenges of the Sudan response during 2025.

OCHA played a key role in maintaining the use of the Adre crossing, the principal entry point for humanitarian personnel and supplies travelling from Chad into Darfur.

The organisation was also central to efforts to restore humanitarian access to El Fasher, Kadugli and Dilling, and to re-establish a more sustained United Nations presence in the Darfur region during the year.

OCHA says negotiations with multiple parties in Sudan, the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Myanmar helped secure access to populations in need, establish humanitarian corridors, reopen cross-border supply routes, and facilitate large-scale aid deliveries.

Despite these efforts, insecurity, administrative obstacles, and restrictions continued to hamper humanitarian operations.

Sudanese organisations at the forefront

The report highlights the growing importance of local and national organisations in delivering humanitarian assistance in areas where international agencies face significant operational constraints.

In Sudan, local organisations were frequently at the forefront of humanitarian responses, drawing on their knowledge of communities and established relationships to reach people in volatile conditions.

OCHA says 55 per cent of allocations through its humanitarian pooled funds worldwide went to local and national organisations in 2025. However, these organisations received only 4 per cent of overall humanitarian funding for coordinated appeals.

The organisation also reports that more than 230,000 feedback responses were recorded in Sudan during the year, helping humanitarian agencies adjust their programmes according to the priorities and concerns of affected communities.

Women-led organisations, local NGOs, and disability-focused groups also contributed to expanding accountability mechanisms and making humanitarian programmes more inclusive.

Humanitarian needs outstrip available resources

OCHA’s annual assessment describes 2025 as a year in which humanitarian needs continued to rise while funding and operational capacity declined.

The organisation says its Humanitarian Reset, launched in March 2025, sought to make humanitarian action faster, more effective, and more accountable through four priorities: Define, Deliver, Devolve, and Defend.

The initiative aimed to concentrate assistance on people facing the most urgent needs, simplify coordination, transfer greater responsibility and resources to local organisations, and defend humanitarian principles and international humanitarian law.

However, OCHA acknowledges that prioritisation could not compensate for the widening gap between humanitarian needs and available resources.

In his foreword to the report, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher warns that humanitarian organisations cannot meet needs on this scale without sustained political and financial support from member states.

He calls for stronger protection of civilians, respect for international humanitarian law and investment in humanitarian action before crises become catastrophes.

For Sudan, where millions remain affected by conflict, displacement and the collapse of essential services, the report highlights the consequences of a humanitarian system struggling to maintain assistance even as the dangers facing both aid workers and the communities they serve continue to grow.

The post OCHA reports 71 aid workers killed in Sudan as humanitarian funding crisis deepens appeared first on Dabanga Radio TV Online.