The share of children in Sudan fully protected against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B and Hib rose from 39 percent in 2024 to 71 percent in 2025.
At the same time, the share of children who received their first measles dose rose from 46 to 68 percent.
More than 40 million Gavi-funded vaccine doses were delivered to Sudan in 2025.
Sudan raised the share of children who received three doses of pentavalent vaccine from 39 percent in 2024 to 71 percent in 2025. That is according to the latest estimates from WHO and UNICEF. The increase came while the war in the country was still going on.
The pentavalent vaccine protects against five diseases in a single vaccine: diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B and the bacterium Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b). The vaccine is given in three doses. The third dose gives the child full protection.
More children also received their first dose. That share rose from 48 to 83 percent. The share of children who received their first measles dose rose from 46 to 68 percent. WHO and UNICEF base the estimates on the figures that Sudan's health authorities have reported.
Largest increase among countries in conflict
The increase equals 32 percentage points in one year. According to Gavi, it is the largest increase among 12 fragile and conflict-affected countries. Gavi also names Sudan as one of the populous countries whose gains helped reduce the number of children worldwide who received no vaccine dose at all in 2025.
In October 2025, we wrote that vaccines supported by Gavi saved 1.7 million lives in 2024. At that time, eight of the 12 fragile and conflict-affected countries had increased their vaccination coverage.
From 93 to 39 percent
In 2019, 93 percent of children in Sudan received all three doses. In 2022, the year before the war, the share was 84 percent. The war escalated in April 2023. That year, the share fell to 51 percent, and in 2024 to 39 percent.
The number of children who had not received a single vaccine dose rose from 112,267 in 2022 to 838,147 in 2024, according to an assessment from Gavi. That same year, Sudan accounted for 42 percent of all such children in the Middle East and North Africa.
An emergency plan and a route through Chad
Sudan's Federal Ministry of Health led an emergency immunization plan, with support from Gavi, WHO, UNICEF and other organizations. Mohammed Al Haboub is an immunization specialist at UNICEF in Sudan. According to him, the emergency plan is behind the recovery.
When the usual transport routes were blocked, a route opened from neighboring Chad into western Sudan. It ran through the border town of Adré. The route made it possible to send vaccines to all five states in Darfur. The time the states went without vaccines was cut from several months to two to four weeks.
In 2025, more than 40 million doses of Gavi-funded vaccines were delivered. About 30 percent of them went through Chad to areas that are otherwise hard to reach.
Mobile teams and solar-powered refrigerators
Mobile teams traveled out to families who could no longer get to a health center. More than 8,000 frontline health workers received extra pay in 2025. Another 20,000 received support during the campaigns against measles, rubella and diphtheria.
The same year, Sudan received 946 electric and solar-powered refrigerators and 11 walk-in cold rooms where vaccines can be stored. Female religious leaders in six states, including Red Sea and White Nile, held 918 sessions in 2024 to get more parents to vaccinate their children. Mobile cinema was also part of the work.
Campaigns for children who missed their doses
In November 2024, a catch-up campaign started to vaccinate children who had missed their doses. It covered 15 states and 115 localities. By November 2025, 283,763 children between one and five years old had received their first dose of pentavalent vaccine through the campaign.
Work to reach children who have never received a single dose is underway in many countries. In Mozambique, digital immunization systems built on open source have helped reach 524,383 children who had never been vaccinated.
More than 12.5 million children under 15 were vaccinated against measles and rubella in campaigns across Sudan in 2025 and 2026. The vaccine was also added to the routine immunization program. A diphtheria campaign in 17 localities in six states reached more than two million people between 5 and 20 years old. That was more than the target.
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