Sudan war destroys world's oldest mycetoma research centre

The war in Sudan has dealt a devastating blow to global health efforts, with the destruction of the world's oldest mycetoma research centre in Khartoum, wiping out more than four decades of critical medical data and shattering a rare story of scientific success in an impoverished country.

When Sudanese farmer Salwa Ibrahim, 31, was pricked by a thorn while gathering herbs on her farm in Sennar state, she thought little of it. But within days, her foot swelled painfully.

After ineffective treatments at local clinics, her condition worsened until she was referred to the Mycetoma Research Centre (MRC) in Soba, east of Khartoum - a world-leading institution for the treatment of mycetoma.

"The doctors told me I had mycetoma - a progressively destructive infectious disease that can affect skin, muscle, and even bone," Salwa told The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. "Because the infection was diagnosed too late, my only option was amputation."

After her recovery, Salwa returned to the centre to join a free vocational training course aimed at helping recovered patients reintegrate into society. But last Thursday, she received devastating news: the Mycetoma Research Centre had been destroyed.

"I was planning to complete my training. That centre wasn't just a hospital; it was hope," Salwa said, recalling that the MRC treated patients not just from Sudan but also from Senegal, Ethiopia, Chad, parts of Latin America, and India.

Ahmed Fahal, director of the Mycetoma Research Centre, told AFP that the centre "and all its infrastructure were destroyed" during the conflict. "We lost the entire contents of our biological banks, with data from more than 40 years," he said. "It’s difficult to bear."

Videos from the site show collapsed ceilings, overturned shelves, open fridges, and documents scattered across the floors. Looters even dumped priceless biological samples onto the ground to steal refrigerators.

The MRC, founded in 1991 under the auspices of the University of Khartoum, had grown to include 50 researchers and treated around 12,000 patients each year. It was the only specialised centre globally dedicated to researching and treating mycetoma, a disease that disproportionately affects poor rural populations, particularly herders and farmers who rely on manual labour to survive.

Since April 15, 2023, Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been locked in a brutal war, killing tens of thousands and displacing more than 12 million people. Sudan’s healthcare system has been pushed to "breaking point," according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and the destruction of the MRC is now among its many casualties.

A devastating blow to global health

Before its destruction, the MRC led outreach campaigns to rural areas, aiming to encourage early diagnosis of mycetoma - a disease often caused by bacteria or fungi entering the body through cuts. If untreated, it leads to severely swollen feet, barnacle-like growths, and even club-like hands, sometimes resulting in amputation.

At the centre, patients received free medical treatment, surgeries, and even prosthetic limbs. It also housed the Saeed Vocational Training Centre for rehabilitated patients and the Hassan Clinical Research Centre focused on neglected tropical diseases.

"The centre played a critical role in raising global awareness," said Dr. Borna Nyaoke-Anoke, head of mycetoma at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi). "Today, Sudan, which was once at the forefront of tackling mycetoma, has gone 100 percent backwards."

Mycetoma is endemic not only in Sudan but also in neighbouring Chad and Ethiopia, and in tropical and subtropical countries such as Mexico and Thailand, according to the WHO. In 2016, after intense advocacy from Sudanese researchers, the WHO officially added mycetoma to its list of neglected tropical diseases.

Prior to the war, the MRC trained dozens of postgraduate researchers and conducted over a thousand surgeries. Around 400 new cases were admitted each year, with patients coming from across Sudan’s most affected regions: White Nile, Gezira, Sennar, Khartoum, and eastern states like Gedaref and Kassala.

Now, more than 120 active patients have been cut off from their life-saving treatments. The centre’s destruction has also interrupted critical international research collaborations.

"This is not just a loss for Sudan - it’s a loss for global science and humanity," said Sudanese Health Minister Haitham Ibrahim, calling the centre’s destruction "a grave crime."

For patients like Salwa Ibrahim, the loss is personal and immediate. "The centre gave us dignity, treatment, and hope," she said. "Now it is all gone."