The horrific scenario includes the shooting and raping of a health worker - with a woman in labour dying - and many suicides to avoid rape
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenAgence France-PressePublished: 8:30pm, 29 Apr 2026The widespread use of rape and other sexual violence as a weapon of war in Sudan has spurred a massive mental health crisis, United Nations agencies and local aid groups warned.
The Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been locked in a brutal conflict since April 2023 that has killed tens of thousands and displaced around 11 million people.
Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières last month said at least 3,396 survivors of sexual violence – nearly all of them women and girls – sought treatment at facilities it supports in North and South Darfur between January 2024 and November 2025.
But the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that the high numbers were likely just the “tip of the iceberg”.
“Accessing services when you are raped is very, very challenging,” Avni Amin, head of WHO’s gender-based violence unit, told an event at the UN in Geneva, focused on Sudan’s humanitarian and health emergency.
For every woman who discloses, there are probably eight or nine women who’ve been raped who will suffer in silenceAvni Amin, head of WHO gender-based violence unitShe pointed to a lack of security and difficulty reaching functioning healthcare establishments, and notably not enough health workers trained to deal with victims of sexual violence.
