Sudan

In 2017, Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health asked the Carter Center’s Conflict Resolution Program to support durable peace in areas where conflict hampers disease control. 

Our Work

The Center has conducted research, convened stakeholders, and begun programming to simultaneously fight disease and wage peace in two distinct corners of Sudan.

Impacts

We have worked to develop and support a grassroots mechanism for conflict management, which reduces conflict and makes the area accessible to public health workers.

Following Sudan’s general elections in 2010 and referendum on the self-determination of South Sudan in 2011, The Carter Center maintained a presence to observe each country’s political environment and transition.

Our Work

We observed, analyzed, and commented on the drafting of a transitional constitution as well as critical pieces of legislation that would become the backbone of the world’s newest democracy.

Since the eruption of civil war in April 2023, we’ve monitored the conflict. The Democracy Program launched a remote observation mission based in Nairobi, Kenya, to examine how civic actors are navigating the war, adapting their roles, and envisioning the country’s future.  

Impacts

Through one-on-one interviews and group discussions with civic leaders in regional diaspora hubs, the Sudan Observation Mission produced four reports. 

Rising food prices and eroding economic opportunity sparked protests across Sudan in December 2018, leading to the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir following 30 years of rule.

Our Work

The Carter Center met with government, military, and civil society leaders. We monitored the transition and considered activities to sustainably support democracy and lasting peace.

Since gaining independence in 2011, South Sudan has experienced ongoing tensions with Sudan over oil pipeline access, revenue sharing, disputed border territories, and mutual support of armed groups operating in each country.

Our Work

In 2013, The Carter Center launched a series of non-governmental dialogues between prominent civil society leaders from both countries to create lasting peace and further normalize relations.

The Carter Center observed national elections in Sudan in 2010 and the January 2011 referendum on the self-determination of South Sudan that resulted from the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

Our Work

We deployed long-, medium-, and short-term observation missions to witness the balloting, counting, and tabulation processes for the national elections.

Impacts

In 2011, the Center supported five organization that recruited, trained, and deployed more than 3,000 observers across all of Sudan’s 25 states as well as Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia.

Support included technical and financial assistance to conduct a survey of the voter registration process.

In 2003, conflict erupted in Darfur and escalated quickly. In 2011, a second conflict broke out in the country’s southeast between the government and remnants of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement / Army.

Our Work

The Carter Center convened meetings of government officials, opposition leaders, and civil society members to discuss possible paths to peace and conducted various behind-the-scenes efforts to help end the conflict.

During Sudan’s second civil war, conflict between Sudan’s government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement / Army was complicated by hostilities between Sudan and Uganda. For years, the Lord’s Resistance Army, linked to the Sudanese government, terrorized northern Uganda, notably using child soldiers.

Impacts

In 1999, President Carter and The Carter Center negotiated the Nairobi Agreement between Sudan and Uganda, reestablishing diplomatic relations and, opening the door for improved regional relations. 

The Center assisted with the agreement’s implementation by convening meetings between the two governments and other stakeholders.

The Carter Center’s long-term commitment to peace and health in Sudan began in the late 1980s during the height of the Second Sudanese Civil War between the central government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army. No solid statistics exist, but experts estimate that the war claimed between 1 and 2 million lives, mostly from illness induced by war and famine.

Our Work

In 1989, President Carter began a direct mediation effort between the Sudanese government and the liberation army. In 1995, President Carter secured a ceasefire from President Omar al-Bashir and the liberation army’s leader to allow for the treatment of Guinea worm and other diseases, including polio and river blindness.

Impacts

• The “Guinea worm cease-fire” lasted almost six months. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed in January 2005 by the government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement / Army, and the Center provided training to support mediation efforts.

The Carter Center began assisting Sudan’s River Blindness (onchocerciasis) Program in 1995, formally establishing a presence in 1997 after the Center secured funding from the Lions Clubs International Foundation.

Our Work

We have worked with Sudan’s National Onchocerciasis Task Force in key focus areas in Sudan: Abu Hamad, Galabat, Khor Yabus, and Radom. Our strategy is based on increasing the distribution of Mectizan® (donated by Merck) from annual doses to every six months as a part of the country’s shift from control to elimination

We began conducting mass drug administration in 2007 and continued for more than a decade, coordinating cross-border elimination activities with Ethiopia. Instability in the region has slowed progress.

According to the World Health Organization, 9.7 million people are living in areas of Sudan where lymphatic filariasis is endemic.

In 2022, The Carter Center expanded its support to the Sudanese Federal Ministry of Health to help eliminate the disease. This effort was made possible through a grant from the Reaching the Last Mile Fund.

Our Work

The Carter Center assists with health education and the mass administration of the drugs Mectizan® (donated by Merck & Co. Inc.) and albendazole (donated by GSK). However, the civil war that broke out in April 2023 has severely hampered or halted public health initiatives.

Since 1999, The Carter Center has worked in Sudan, in collaboration with the government and funding partners, to eliminate trachoma. Insecurity and increasing inflation have made program implementation difficult and costly. Nevertheless, the Center has pledged to continue supporting the national program.

Our Work

The Center has assisted Sudan with sight-saving surgeries, distribution of medical treatments, and has worked with stakeholders to raise awareness and develop health education materials.

Impacts

• Distributed more than 9 million doses of azithromycin (donated by Pfizer Inc.) and tetracycline eye ointment.
• Treated more than 420,000 Ethiopian and South Sudanese refugees, while also providing, health education.
• Preformed more than 13,000 surgeries to prevent immediate blindness.

Current Status: Indigenous Transmission Stopped, 2002
Certification of Dracunculiasis Elimination: Pending

Our work to eradicate Guinea worm disease began in 1995, but civil war impeded access to many endemic areas. President Carter then brokered the “Guinea worm ceasefire,” allowing health workers to distribute medicine and preventative health measures. 

Our Work

The Carter Center and its partners distributed pipe filters to at-risk populations and conducted a targeted health education campaign that included flip charts, radio advertisements, and community demonstrations.  

Impacts

• Millions of pipe filters distributed
• Indigenous transmission stopped in 2002

The Carter Center worked with the Sudan Federal Ministry of Health in the Public Health Training Initiative, a joint effort to improve the training of health professionals who work directly with women and children.

Our Work

The initiative focused on improving the learning environment of adult students and mid-career professionals such as nurses and midwives.

The Carter Center worked in Sudan from 1986 to 1992 to teach small-scale farm families techniques to increase grain crop yields. Led by the late Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug, the program was a joint venture between the Center and the Sasakawa Africa Association.

Our Work

The program provided farmers with credit for fertilizers and enhanced seeds to grow test plots, often yielding more crops. It also identified less costly, more efficient harvesting methods and local markets for surpluses.

Impacts

• Participating farmers went on to teach others, creating a ripple effect to stimulate self-sufficiency. Wheat production increased by more than 950%.

The five-year project in Sudan was completed in 1992.