The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said that Sudan is facing a health crisis as medical infrastructure has been destroyed and two out of three civilians are no longer able to access basic health services after most of the country's hospitals and healthcare centres were forced to close as a result of the conflict.

The committee said in a statement today in Geneva that repeated attacks on health facilities and workers have serious consequences as the food crisis worsens, stressing that health care centres are essential for preventing, detecting and treating malnutrition.

"The situation in health clinics is beyond words," said Amelie Chbat, who oversees health programmes for the ICRC in Sudan. "The injured lack medicines, food, and water, and the elderly, women, and children are without essential treatments like dialysis or diabetes medications. And the situation is deteriorating."

The ICRC reminds the parties to the conflict that such actions will have severe and long-lasting consequences for the entire Sudanese population and that protecting healthcare is an obligation under international humanitarian law.