Over the past two years, since war broke out in Sudan, an estimated over 1.5 million Sudanese nationals have crossed the border and continue to reside in Egypt. Many have remained in the Aswan governorate just across the border, where for the past year, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) have, alongside an Egyptian organization, been managing five mobile clinics to provide basic healthcare assistance and mental healthcare for refugees and others.

MSF helps refugees in area lacking access to hospitals

"Fleeing war and leaving their homes behind add a serious toll on people's mental health," says Moses Luhanga, MSF health promotion activity manager in Egypt. "We see a lot of patients who suffer from anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder due to their pasts. What they went through, whether in Sudan or on their journey here, and the uncertainty of their current lives."

Aswan is not only the point of arrival for many displaced people, it is also an important transit center where humanitarian needs for such things as protection, lodgings, food, and healthcare services are the most acute and access to local hospitals remains extremely difficult.

"Over the past year, the MSF team has provided over 7,265 general consultations and over 6,600 consultations for non-communicable diseases. In addition, we have offered more than 1,470 individual mental health consultations and more than 2,440 health promotion sessions.", said Luhanga.

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MSF runs a mobile clinic in partnership with Om Habibeh Foundation (OHF), an Egyptian organisation with a long history in the Aswan governorate. Every morning, a joint MSF and OHF team, consisting of doctors, nurses, psychologists and health educators, visit different locations to provide general medical care to Sudanese and Egyptians experiencing difficulties in the villages of Karkar, Daraw, and Nasr Al Nuba, as well as the city of Aswan.

Those who fled Sudan with almost nothing have enormous needs, and many of them have a legal status limiting their movement as well as access to healthcare assistance, due to concerns about intimidation and violent reactions against them, according to MSF.

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Aliya, who fled with 3 kids and a fourth on the way

A spokesperson for the Sudanese community in Karkar, Egypt, noted that: "people are tired of war and their situation and see the weekly visits by MSF and OHF as a moment of relief."

"When I announced for the first time that a psychologist would be coming," he added, "over 500 people wanted to meet him."

In addition to medical assistance, every day, an MSF worker assists patients in need of additional services such as protection or economic and social assistance. Beginning in September 2025, over 80 patients were sent to organisations working on the ground that provide this type of assistance. The situation, nonetheless, remains difficult even for those who managed to flee the massacres.

Aliya, a forty-year-old pregnant mother of three small children who fled the war in Sudan and now lives in Karkar, said that she was grateful to those helping her and her loved ones but that the memory of her journey would never be forgotten.

"I stayed for nine months in Sudan with my family before I decided to seek refuge in Egypt, since the situation had become unsustainable."

"It was a horrible journey. We walked for days in the desert. At night it was very cold and we did not have enough food or water. I went for hours without drinking because I was keeping my rations for my children," she said.

Aliya and her husband now work as farmhands for a bit of money and stability for their family.

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