Core pipeline for life-saving health and nutrition medicines and medical supplies to support rapid emergencies response in 10 States of Sudan Humanitarian needs in Sudan are commonly driven by floods, disease outbreaks, drought and armed conflicts. The global COVID-19 pandemic added more burden to the already weaken health systems in Sudan. The country continues to face protracted, complex and overlapping humanitarian challenges. A total of 8.6 million people needs humanitarian health assistance in 2020. Last year alone, the country witnessed six concurrent outbreaks of water and sanitation-related, vector-borne and vaccine-preventable diseases. Approximately 15-20 percent of the children with Sever Acute Malnutrition (SAM) are likely to develop medical complications and require inpatient treatment in stabilization centers. These children with SAM are 11 times more likely to die than healthy children. Accordingly, the 2020 HRP targets about 45,418 children suffering of SAM with medical complications who will be in need of in-patient care. 

Frequent stock out of essential medicines at the point of service delivery has been attributed to malfunctioning of the logistics and medical supplies systems and critical shortage of medicines and medical supplies in Sudan especially during emergencies. The government’s importation of medicines into the country has been dropping significantly over the past couple of years. A 50 % decrease of importation of essential medicines and supplies was documented by FMOH and WHO in 2019. Anecdotal evidence attesting further 25% decrease this year. There are reports of serious shortage of medicines and medical supplies in health facilities and local market due to COVID-19 related burden of diseases  The joint WHO and FMOH assessment in 2018 and 2019 found out that the free availability of the medicines at the stabilization centers (SCs) for the SAM children with medical complications was a major challenge.  

The WHO has been providing essential medicines and medical supplies to NGOs and government counterparts under its flagship Rapid Response Kit (RRK) project funded by OFDA/USAID in in Sudan over years. It has also been procuring and distributing life-saving emergency medicines and medical supplies during major public health emergencies in Sudan. In addition, WHO has been procuring and distribution SAM Medical Complication (MC) Kits which contains lifesaving medicines to treat children with severe acute malnutrition with complications in the stabilization centers.
 
The Interagency Emergency Health Kit (IEHK), Trauma and Emergency Services Kit (TESK) and Cholera kits have been widely accepted and used to respond to various emergencies globally. The Sever Acute Malnutrition with Medical Complications (PED-SAM MC) Nutrition Kits are WHO Standard Kits which contains lifesaving medicines and are used globally to respond to needs of the SAM children with Medical complications. However, in preparing this proposal, WHO identified and prioritized the critical needs for medicines and medical supplies needed to respond to common emergencies consistent with national multi-hazard preparedness and response plan, current stocks (including pipeline) and critical gaps. The WHO ensures the procured medicines and medical supplies meet national and international standards for safety and quality. 
 
Therefore, this project will procure life-saving health and nutrition medicines and medical supplies to establish a core pipeline that supports rapid emergency response to provide essential health and nutrition services. The project will procure various modules of 289  IEHK, 106 TESK, and 136, Cholera kits, and 122 PED-SAM-MC kits.  The procured items will be distributed through SHF supported NGO partners as guided by the Strategic Review Committee (SRC). These medicines and medical supplies will serve a total of 1,404,368 population (roughly covering 10% of the need) in 10 States of Sudan over a period 9 months.