South Sudan: MSF healthcare facility hit during an airstrike
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) healthcare facility was hit during an airstrike on Wednesday Dec. 3, 2025, in the morning hours, in the town of Pieri, Jonglei State, South Sudan. After the facility was hit, and the gunship helicopter left, MSF teams found bullets that hit the infrastructure within the facility. After Pieri, MSF teams witnessed additional airstrikes in Lankien, where MSF also runs healthcare facilities, but without direct damage to the infrastructure.
In both locations, all MSF staff remain safe, and there have been no reported casualties among the local community linked to airstrikes. MSF is the only health care provider supporting the vulnerable groups, women and children in Pieri, and MSF Lankien hospital is the only secondary health care facility providing life-saving care in the region.
In 2025, MSF alone experienced several attacks, forcing the closure of Old Fangak and Ulang hospitals in May and June, and the suspension of primary care activities in Jonglei, Upper Nile and Central Equatoria.
“The recent airstrike shows a deeply concerning pattern in which healthcare facilities are repeatedly hit or come under fire during persistent attacks. We call for immediate protection of medical infrastructure, staff and patients in South Sudan,” said Emmerson Gono, MSF Deputy Head of Mission in South Sudan.
MSF operates one of its largest assistance programmes worldwide in South Sudan, responding to the many health needs resulting from ongoing conflict, displacement, recurrent floods, and disease outbreaks. All these issues are compounded by a marked decrease in international funding for humanitarian and development programmes, and the precarious state of the national healthcare system.
