Report on the Humanitarian Funding Crisis in Eastern Chad and its Impact on Sustainable Development Goals

Executive Summary

A severe humanitarian funding crisis in Eastern Chad is critically undermining the provision of essential services, particularly sexual and reproductive health care for a rapidly growing population of Sudanese refugees and host communities. The reduction in financial support has led to drastic staff cuts, shortages of medical supplies, and overwhelmed health facilities. This situation poses a direct threat to the health and rights of women and girls and represents a significant setback for the achievement of several key Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), most notably SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities).

Deterioration of Health Service Capacity

Health centers across Eastern Chad are experiencing an untenable strain on resources as the refugee population from Sudan surpasses 1.2 million. The decline in humanitarian funding has had immediate and severe consequences:

• Drastic Staff Reductions: The Farchana Health Centre, which serves over 60,000 people, has seen its staff reduced from 32 to 10. Similarly, the Arkoum health centre has only seven midwives to serve over 70,000 refugees and residents.
• Overburdened Facilities: The Farchana maternity ward alone receives an average of 16,000 women per month for a range of services, a volume that is impossible to manage with current staffing levels.
• Resource Scarcity: Patients and health workers report critical shortages of essential medicines and medical equipment, directly impacting the quality of care for prenatal consultations, deliveries, and family planning.
• Withdrawal of Support: The Adré Health District, serving over 516,000 people, has seen partner organizations withdraw or drastically reduce their support, crippling the operational capacity of newly established health facilities.

Critical Implications for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The crisis in Chad directly contravenes the global commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The lack of funding creates a cascade of failures across multiple interconnected goals.

SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

The core objective of ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being is in jeopardy. The current situation directly undermines key targets:

1. Target 3.1 (Reduce Maternal Mortality): With a pre-existing maternal mortality rate of 748 deaths per 100,000 live births, Chad is one of the most dangerous places to give birth. The collapse of prenatal and postnatal care services due to funding cuts will inevitably lead to an increase in preventable maternal deaths.
2. Target 3.7 (Universal Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health-Care Services): The shortage of midwives, lack of family planning supplies, and inability to provide consistent prenatal care represent a complete failure to ensure universal access for this vulnerable population.

SDG 5: Gender Equality

The crisis disproportionately affects women and girls, rolling back progress on gender equality.

• Target 5.6 (Ensure Universal Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Reproductive Rights): Women like Amina, who face long waits and a lack of essential medication during pregnancy, are being denied their fundamental right to health. This systemic failure reinforces gender-based vulnerabilities.

SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

The funding shortfall exacerbates inequalities within and among countries.

• Target 10.2 (Promote Universal Social, Economic, and Political Inclusion): By failing to provide for the basic health needs of refugees and their host communities, the international community is deepening the marginalization of these groups.
• Target 10.3 (Ensure Equal Opportunity and Reduce Inequalities of Outcome): The disparity in health outcomes between women in Farchana camp and those in adequately funded regions is a stark example of inequality that the SDGs aim to eliminate.

SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

The withdrawal of partner organizations due to funding freezes highlights a critical failure in global partnerships.

• Target 17.2 (Developed Countries to Implement Fully Their Official Development Assistance Commitments): The decline in humanitarian funding demonstrates a retreat from international commitments, with devastating consequences on the ground. The effectiveness of agencies like UNFPA is severely limited without robust and reliable financial support from partners.

Conclusion

The situation in Eastern Chad is a clear example of how humanitarian funding gaps translate into human suffering and a reversal of development progress. The inability to provide basic sexual and reproductive health services not only risks the lives of thousands of women and their babies but also constitutes a significant failure to uphold the principles of the Sustainable Development Goals. Urgent and sustained financial support is required to restore essential services, protect fundamental human rights, and ensure that vulnerable populations are not forgotten.

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

• The article’s primary focus is on the collapse of health services, particularly maternal and reproductive healthcare, in Chad’s Farchana camp and surrounding areas. It details the lack of prenatal care, midwives, and essential medicines, directly connecting to the goal of ensuring healthy lives.

SDG 5: Gender Equality

• The issues disproportionately affect women and girls. The article emphasizes the crisis in “sexual and reproductive health of women and girls,” the risks pregnant women like Amina face, and the high maternal death rates. This connects to the goal of achieving gender equality by addressing the specific health rights and needs of women.

SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

• The article highlights the vulnerability of a specific population group: refugees. It describes how the crisis impacts “both refugees and members of the host community” but is exacerbated by the “continued arrival of Sudanese refugees fleeing violence.” This relates to the goal of reducing inequality within and among countries by focusing on the plight of displaced persons.

SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

• A core theme of the article is the failure of partnerships and funding mechanisms. It explicitly mentions the “global humanitarian funding crisis” and how partners, including NGOs and UN agencies, “withdrew or drastically reduced their support” due to a “funding freeze.” This directly relates to the goal of strengthening the means of implementation and revitalizing global partnerships.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

• Target 3.1: By 2030, reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births.
  • The article directly addresses this by stating that Chad “already has one of the highest maternal death rates in the world, with 748 women dying per every 100,000 live births, a situation that is likely to deteriorate.”
• Target 3.7: By 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education.
  • The article describes a severe lack of these services. The Farchana Health Centre’s maternity ward, which provides “prenatal consultations, deliveries, postnatal care and family planning,” is overwhelmed, putting essential care “at risk.”
• Target 3.c: Substantially increase health financing and the recruitment, development, training and retention of the health workforce in developing countries.
  • The article provides clear evidence of a failure to meet this target. It details how the Farchana Health Centre “has had to cut staff” from 32 to 10, and the Arkoum centre has “only seven midwives to manage the two refugee camps.” This is attributed to a “funding crisis.”

SDG 5: Gender Equality

• Target 5.6: Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights.
  • This target is central to the article’s narrative. The lack of midwives, medicine, and consultations for pregnant women like Amina represents a failure to ensure this access. The article notes that the crisis “increases the risk that women will face… violations of their fundamental right to health.”

SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

• Target 10.7: Facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people.
  • While the article doesn’t discuss migration policies, it details the consequences of a massive, crisis-driven refugee influx (“the total number of Sudanese refugees in Chad exceeds 1.2 million”). The inability of the health system to cope with the needs of this vulnerable group points to a failure in managing the humanitarian consequences of this mobility.

SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

• Target 17.3: Mobilize additional financial resources for developing countries from multiple sources.
  • The article highlights a reversal of this target. Dr. Mahamoud Adam Ahmat states, “At first, several partners were there to support us. But with the funding freeze, they withdrew or drastically reduced their support,” indicating a failure to mobilize and sustain financial resources.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

Indicators for SDG 3 Targets

• Indicator 3.1.1 (Maternal mortality ratio): The article explicitly provides this indicator, stating Chad’s rate is “748 women dying per every 100,000 live births.”
• Indicator 3.c.1 (Health worker density and distribution): The article provides specific data that serves as a proxy for this indicator. It mentions the Farchana centre has only “10” staff for “more than 60,000 people” and the Arkoum area has “only seven midwives” for a population of over 70,000 (“50,000 refugees and 20,000 host residents”).
• Implied Indicators for Target 3.7 (Access to reproductive health services): While not providing a formal percentage, the article implies very low access through descriptions like Amina waiting “for several hours,” “too many women and not enough midwives,” and the maternity ward receiving “an average of 16,000 women per month” with a critically low staff. The “drug stockouts” and Amina’s inability to “find certain medications” are also clear indicators of a lack of access to essential reproductive health supplies.

Indicators for SDG 17 Targets

• Implied Indicators for Target 17.3 (Mobilization of financial resources): The article provides qualitative indicators of a failure to meet this target. The “global humanitarian funding crisis,” “funding freeze,” and the fact that partners “withdrew or drastically reduced their support” are direct indicators of a decline in mobilized financial resources for this specific crisis.

4. Table of SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Source: unfpa.org