Egypt: Bringing medical care to Egyptian and Sudanese people in Aswan
MSF-supported mobile clinics help Egyptians and Sudanese access healthcare and mental health support.
Khaled* sits in the corner of the waiting room, with his United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees registration card in one hand and a little plastic bag full of empty medication packets in the other. This is his third visit to a clinic in Daraw, receiving treatment for his chronic illness.
“We had a comfortable life in Sudan and leaving it was very difficult. But it was our only option,” says Khaled. He is one of the 1.5 million Sudanese people living in Egypt, many whom crossed after the recent war started in 2023.
Originally from Jezirah, Sudan, Khaled now lives in Daraw, a little town in the Egyptian governorate of Aswan. “Our home country is left without healthcare and older people like me cannot stay long without it.”
In Daraw, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) runs a mobile clinic in partnership with Om Habibeh Foundation (OHF), an Egyptian organization with a long history in Aswan governorate. Together, we began this project in January 2025 across five different locations in the governorate.
“Fleeing war and leaving their homes behind takes a serious toll on people’s mental health. 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.”
Moses Luhanga, MSF health promotion activity manager in Egypt
How we’re helping in Aswan
The MSF-OHF collaboration aims to make access to health care easier to people who need it, while supporting the existing health care system in Aswan governorate.
Since January 2025, we have provided more than:
- 7,265 general consultations
- 6,600 consultations for non-communicable diseases
- 1,470 individual mental health consultations
- 2,440 health promotion sessions
Every morning, a joint MSF and OHF team, consisting of doctors, nurses, psychologists and health educators, visit the clinics and provide primary medical care to Sudanese and Egyptian people who do not have access to care elsewhere.
Working with the community: a key component of care
Since we started our activities, MSF and OHF knew that we needed to engage closely with the target communities in order to reach them and adapt to their needs. While Egyptians and Sudanese communities co-exist in Aswan, their needs and challenges in accessing care are different.
For many Sudanese people, who left their homes with very little, their legal status often determines their freedom of movement and access to healthcare.
“Fleeing war and leaving their homes behind takes 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.”
Community engagement makes it possible to reach people and get an understanding of what they need. Our teams work with several community mobilizers, who act as the link between us and the communities.
“I was very relieved when I was told that my delivery will be taken care of by the medical team, including transportation costs to the hospital. I do not have sufficient money to pay for it.”
Aliya, an MSF patient from Sudan
Financial constraints limit access to healthcare
Financial costs are a barrier for many people in Aswan, and can limit their ability to reach the facilities or buy their prescribed medications. Heba*, an Egyptian mother of seven, tells us she finds it difficult to cover all her medical bills and feed her children at the same time.
“While I do have access to the public services as an Egyptian woman, I prefer to come here as I receive all my medications for free,” she says. “It helps me save some money for my family, instead of paying at the pharmacy.”
For many people in the governorate of Aswan, the cost of living is increasing, making it more difficult for people to feed their families. More Egyptians are now coming to receive care in our mobile clinics, though most of the patients remain Sudanese.
Care that goes beyond the basics
In Karkar, 70 kilometres south of Daraw, Aliya* first came to the clinic when she found out she was pregnant, and was looking for a place to deliver her baby. Although the medical team does not provide delivery services, our team refers patients who need additional medical care to other organizations or health facilities.
“I was very relieved when I was told that my delivery will be taken care of by the medical team, including transportation costs to the hospital,” says Aliya. “I do not have sufficient money to pay for it.”
Every day, an MSF referral nurse follows up with patients who require additional services neither MSF nor OHF provide. While many of the patients require secondary medical care, others ask for non-medical services such as protection, financial or social support. Since the introduction of this new referral service in September 2025, more than 80 patients have been referred to other organizations, reflecting high needs for further care.
*Names of patients have been changed to protect their identities.
