![An open view of MSF hospital vandalized in Akobo County in South Sudan’s Jonglei State. [Photo: Courtesy]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/unnamed-8.webp?resize=1024%2C576&ssl=1)
An open view of MSF hospital vandalized in Akobo County in South Sudan’s Jonglei State. [Photo: Courtesy]
On 6 March 2026, the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) launched an offensive against the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-in-Opposition (SPLA-IO) in Akobo town, forcing thousands of residents to flee across the border into Ethiopia.
In mid-April, following the SSPDF’s further clashes, armed groups with the opposition retook control of the town.
Jacob Granger, MSF project coordinator in Akobo, said that 15 surrounding health facilities were looted and abandoned, while cold chain equipment was destroyed, bringing vaccination services to a complete halt.
“The humanitarian response in Akobo continues to fall far short of the scale of needs, despite repeated calls to action and high-level commitments,” Granger said in a statement extended to Sudans Post last week.
He said that more than 100,000 people have now returned to find a town stripped of essential services, adding that the entire health system has collapsed.
“Donors and humanitarian actors must urgently scale up across the boar—waterr andsanitation;, foodassistance;, the full restoration of Akobo TeachingHospital;, and protection services, including the distribution of mosquito net—aheadd of the peak malaria transmission season.”
Granger said the MSF’s return has helped restore critical, lifesaving care in Akobo, but this alone is not sufficient.
For her, Elizabeth Nyachin Koang, an MSF traditional birth attendant and midwife in Akobo, said that 15 surrounding health facilities were looted and abandoned, while cold chain equipment was destroyed, bringing vaccination services to a complete halt.
“Since the start of activities, and until the beginning of June, all patients — including pregnant women — were sleeping on the floor,” Nyachin said.
She said the equipment they once used to monitor pregnancies at the hospital was destroyed.
“We cannot properly assess how a baby is developing or whether it is doing well inside the womb. Women are giving birth under very difficult conditions. We do everything we can, but we lost much of the equipment that helped us provide better care.”
Akobo Teaching Hospital was completely looted and left without electricity, fuel, beds, medical equipment, or essential medicines.
When Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) resumed activities at the hospital on 11 May, the team was immediately overwhelmed. In the first five days alone, health workers treated more than 600 patients. By 14 June, a total of 684 patients had been admitted to a facility with a capacity of only 30 beds.
By the same date, the hospital had recorded 5,106 outpatient consultations and 30 deliveries.
Health workers said the number of outpatient consultations in a single day is now equivalent to what the hospital used to handle in an entire week before the conflict.
