Mental health is crucial for overcoming obstacles, completing tasks, and contributing to society. Mental, social, and cognitive healths are included. In demanding fields like medicine, academic pressure can cause exhaustion, poor performance, and behavioral changes. Mental health must be addressed to improve student success and well-being. Medical students’ coping strategies, anxiety, depression, and behavioral changes in uncontrollable situations will be studied. A cross-sectional study involved 393 medical students from various universities in Khartoum. Data was collected using an online questionnaire to assess mental health responses during both controllable and uncontrollable situations across all academic years. Data analysis using SPSS 27 indicated minimal missing data (0.25%) among the 393 participants. PHQ-4 scores assessed psychological distress, anxiety, and depression. The study found that 74.2% of participants experienced behavioral, cognitive, and emotional changes. Significant associations were observed between PHQ-4 scores and these changes (p < .05) using Chi-Square testing. Most participants were females aged 20 to 22, primarily from the Medicine and Pharmacy departments. The study revealed that most individuals utilized pharmacological coping strategies following significant life changes due to uncontrollable situations. The study highlights that women experienced stress, dissatisfaction, concern, and anger more frequently than men during ongoing war and the post-COVID-19 lockdown. Medical students faced substantial challenges in behavior, emotions, and cognition during societal unrest, including fatigue, feelings of failure, and sleep disturbances. Over 74% reported multiple changes in their emotions and behaviors. Coping strategies included nicotine, sleeping aids, socializing, exercise, venting, meditation, and journaling.

Armed conflicts severely impact healthcare systems leading to medication shortages and restricted access to essential services. The ongoing war in Sudan has disrupted healthcare infrastructure affecting patients particularly those with chronic diseases. This study examines the accessibility of medications and the consequences of limited healthcare access during the conflict. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among individuals affected by the Sudan war. Data were collected through an online questionnaire assessing medication accessibility, healthcare service availability, and socioeconomic factors. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS to examine correlations between accessibility and health outcomes. Out of 300 participants, 56.7% reported poor medication accessibility while 43.3% had to relocate due to a lack of medical care. 65.7% experienced worsening health condition and 61.3% believed medication shortages contributed to increased mortality. Low-income and unemployed individuals faced the greatest challenges in accessing medications. The Sudan war has significantly disrupted healthcare access with severe consequences for medication availability and patient health. Urgent humanitarian interventions and policy measures are needed to restore medication supply chains and improve healthcare access for conflict-affected populations.

Surgical site infections (SSIs) pose a major challenge to healthcare systems worldwide, with a disproportionately higher impact in low- and middle-income countries. Medical clinical students are actively involved in patient care and thus play a vital role in implementing infection prevention protocols. However, deficiencies in their knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) regarding infection control may undermine patient safety and surgical outcomes. This study aimed to assess the KAP of clinical medical students in Sudan concerning infection control measures in surgical settings and to explore perceived barriers and potential strategies for improvement. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 420 clinical medical students from 13 Sudanese universities between November 2024 and February 2025. Data were collected using a structured, self-administered online questionnaire covering demographic data, KAP components and contextual barriers. Scores were categorized into poor, moderate or good levels. Independent samples t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to assess the differences in KAP scores across demographic variables. Most students demonstrated moderate knowledge (73.8%) and practices (50.2%) regarding infection control while 43.8% exhibited a neutral attitude. Notably, Only 28.8% of participants had received formal infection control training. Significant knowledge gaps were observed in hand hygiene duration, personal protective equipment (PPE) sequencing and sterile field management. The most reported barriers were limited supplies (70%) and insufficient training (69.3%). Interestingly, students who had not completed a surgical rotation had significantly higher attitude scores toward infection control compared to those who had (p = 0.008). Sudanese medical students demonstrate moderate awareness and practice regarding infection control in surgical settings, with notable gaps in training and resource availability. Targeted educational interventions, enhanced supervision, and improved access to infection control supplies are critical to strengthening adherence and promoting safer clinical environments.

The armed conflict that erupted in Sudan in April 2023 has severely disrupted the country’s healthcare system, affecting hospitals, community pharmacies, and essential health services, including pharmaceutical supply chains. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of the persistent armed conflict in Sudan on the accessibility of essential medications in community pharmacies within designated states. It aims to pinpoint critical factors influencing medicine supply, assess availability across regions, and investigate the strategies employed by pharmacists to ensure access to essential medications. This study examines geographic variation, pharmacy type, and barriers to medicine access to enhance humanitarian planning, national policy responses, and pharmaceutical resilience strategies in prolonged crisis contexts. A cross-sectional survey was conducted between December 2024 and May 2025 using the WHO/HAI methodology. The WHO/HAI methodology is a standardized, international survey method developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Action International (HAI) to measure the price, availability, and affordability of essential medicines in both public and private sectors. Data were collected from 118 public and private community pharmacies across Aljazeera, Northern, White Nile, and Red Sea states. Availability of 50 essential medicines was recorded through a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, t-tests, and ANOVA were used to analyze differences by pharmacy type and location. Overall, 95.8% of pharmacies reported disrupted access to medicines, and 98.3% reported significant price increases. Chronic disease medications such as insulin (11.0%), diazepam (15.3%), and captopril (26.3%) were among the most unavailable. Public pharmacies showed significantly higher average availability than private ones (p = .04), while Northern State reported higher availability than Aljazeera and Red Sea states (p < .001). Essential medicine availability in Sudan has been critically undermined by the conflict, with chronic disease treatments disproportionately affected. These findings highlight the urgent need for secure pharmaceutical supply corridors, support for local production, and coordinated humanitarian efforts to restore medicine access in conflict-affected areas.