UNHCR-supported clinic in South Sudan brings vital medical care to families fleeing Sudan war
UNHCR-supported clinic in South Sudan brings vital medical care to families fleeing Sudan war
Fatima and Nima sit outside Chemedi Primary Health Centre while waiting for medical attention.
By the time Fatima and her family reached Chemedi in South Sudan's Upper Nile State, they had lost nearly everything to the conflict. “We were barefoot and completely drained,” she recalls. “Since we arrived on this side of the border, our health has improved.”
For Fatima, much of that recovery has come from the Chemedi Primary Health Care Centre, up to half an hour’s walk from the Dabba water reservoir where her family now shelters. With funding from the South Sudan Humanitarian Fund (SSHF), UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has kept the centre open, its clinical officers and nurses paid, and its shelves stocked with medicines and health facility is fenced. UNHCR worked at the site alongside its partner Relief International, the Renk County Health Department and community health workers.
Fatima, her husband and their children fled Guli, a border area, north of South Sudan. They are among the nearly 34,000 people recorded after a headcount in March 2026 in Chemedi, part of Renk County. Many are families who fled fighting in Sudan’s Blue Nile State, where tens of thousands of people have been forced from their homes this year.
For newly arrived families, private treatment or travel to distant hospitals is out of reach. Fatima says having free care nearby has been a lifeline. “The treatment we are getting right now really helped,” she says. “We do not need to look for a doctor elsewhere.”
Nima also fled the violence in Bout with her children. For her, medical care was one of the first urgent needs after arrival. “I fled barefoot, sick and running for my life,” she recalls. The clinic was a chance to stop running and seek treatment.
Refugees and host community members waiting to be attended to at the Chemedi Primary Health Centre.
She arrived at the health centre with a tight chest, bringing her children, who had also fallen ill during the journey. “This facility has doctors, supplies and tents to treat us,” she says.
Under the SSHF-funded project, the centre provided 8,330 primary health care consultations between July and September 2026. The funding also upgraded the clinic building and supplied medical equipment, clean water and infection-prevention materials, making care safer for patients. Meanwhile, community health workers go door to door and tree to tree, sharing health guidance and referring sick residents who might otherwise miss out on treatment.
Still, humanitarian partners warn that urgent gaps remain. While efforts continue to strengthen feedback channels for patients and tailor services for women and girls, families in Fatima’s area of Chemedi have no school, no market and no town nearby. Many still live in the open under trees.
“Most families in Chemedi arrived with nothing and cannot pay for transport or treatment elsewhere,” says Sebit Mustafa Obied, UNHCR’s Public Health Associate in Renk. “Thanks to the SSHF and our partners, a sick child here can receive health consultation close to home, by a paid nurse, and receive better treatment and medication from the shelf.”
Refugees and members of the host community wait for medical attention outside Chemedi Primary Health Centre.
