IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fpr/ssspwp/23.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The effects of conflict-induced migration on food security and health related outcomes in Sudan: From displacement to despair

Author

Listed:
  • Abushama, Hala
  • Kirui, Oliver K.
  • Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum
  • Siddig, Khalid
  • Mohamed, Shima A. H.

Abstract

This study investigates the socioeconomic effects of conflict-induced migration in Sudan, focusing on the food security and access to healthcare of displaced households. Triggered by the civil conflict that started in April 2023, the recent widespread displacement of households has intensified vulnerabilities across the country. Using three datasets—the pre conflict 2022 Sudan Labor Market Panel Survey and two surveys conducted during the conflict, the 2023/24 Sudan Rural Household Survey and the 2024 Sudan Urban Household Survey—the research examines the impacts on household food security and healthcare access of migration driven by conflict. The study employs inverse probability weighting to estimate the causal impacts of migration, leveraging data from over 12,000 households. The key impact indicators at the household level were the Food Insecurity Experience Scale score and, as a measure of healthcare access, any incidence of illness in the household. Analysis shows that migration induced by conflict exacerbates food insecurity, with over 90 percent of rural households and nearly 80 percent of urban households reporting moderate to severe food insecurity. Rural households face additional challenges as displacement disrupts agricultural livelihoods and access to markets. Migration also worsens healthcare access, particularly in rural areas where displaced households experience a higher likelihood of illness. For urban households, migration fails to alleviate their healthcare challenges due to the collapse of urban healthcare systems. The study calls for urgent policy interventions, including targeted food aid and mobile healthcare services. Restoring healthcare infrastructure, expanding social protection mechanisms, and fostering peacebuilding efforts are critical to mitigating future displacement and supporting socioeconomic recovery. These findings offer valuable insights for policymakers and humanitarian actors to address the immediate and long-term needs of displaced populations in Sudan.

Suggested Citation

  • Abushama, Hala & Kirui, Oliver K. & Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum & Siddig, Khalid & Mohamed, Shima A. H., 2024. "The effects of conflict-induced migration on food security and health related outcomes in Sudan: From displacement to despair," Sudan SSP working papers 23, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    • Handle: RePEc:fpr:ssspwp:23
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/168432
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. George, Justin & Adelaja, Adesoji, 2022. "Armed conflicts, forced displacement and food security in host communities," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    2. Abushama, Hala & Guo, Zhe & Siddig, Khalid & Kirui, Oliver K. & Abay, Kibrom A. & You, Liangzhi, 2023. "Monitoring indicators of economic activity in Sudan amidst ongoing conflict using satellite data," Sudan SSP working papers 7a, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    3. Nathan Fiala, 2015. "Economic Consequences of Forced Displacement," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(10), pages 1275-1293, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rudolfsen, Ida & Bartusevičius, Henrikas & van Leeuwen, Florian & Østby, Gudrun, 2024. "War and food insecurity in Ukraine," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    2. Hızıroğlu Aygün, Aysun & Kırdar, Murat Güray & Koyuncu, Murat & Stoeffler, Quentin, 2024. "Keeping refugee children in school and out of work: Evidence from the world's largest humanitarian cash transfer program," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    3. Sarah Bridges & Douglas Scott, 2022. "Early Childhood Health During Conflict: The Legacy of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Northern Uganda," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 84(4), pages 694-718, August.
    4. Mulubrhan Amare & Lucia Carrillo & Katrina Kosec & Jordan Kyle, 2024. "Conflict, Aspirations, and Women’s Empowerment: Household Survey Evidence from Farmer-Herder Conflicts in Nigeria," HiCN Working Papers 421, Households in Conflict Network.
    5. Linet Nyanchama Arisa, 2025. "The Role of Formal and Informal Financing in Refugee Self-Employment: The Case of Urban Kenya," Economies, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-21, April.
    6. Dominic Rohner & Mathias Thoenig & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2013. "Seeds of distrust: conflict in Uganda," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 217-252, September.
    7. Thomas K. Bauer & Matthias Giesecke & Laura M. Janisch, 2019. "The Impact of Forced Migration on Mortality: Evidence From German Pension Insurance Records," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(1), pages 25-47, February.
    8. Osmar Leandro Loaiza Quintero & Guberney Muñetón Santa & Juan Gabriel Vanegas, 2018. "Forced displacement and Multidimensional Poverty in Antioquia, Colombia: an assessment by means of a Seemingly Unrelated Regression," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 41, pages 167-190.
    9. Braun, Sebastian & Dwenger, Nadja, 2017. "The local environment shapes refugee integration: Evidence from post-war Germany," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 10-2017, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
    10. Wang, Shun & Zhou, Weina, 2017. "The Unintended Long-Term Consequences of Mao’s Mass Send-Down Movement: Marriage, Social Network, and Happiness," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 344-359.
    11. Margherita Calderone, 2017. "Are there different spillover effects from cash transfers to men and women? Impacts on investments in education in post-war Uganda," WIDER Working Paper Series 093, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Michał Burzyński & Christoph Deuster & Frédéric Docquier & Jaime de Melo, 2022. "Climate Change, Inequality, and Human Migration," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 20(3), pages 1145-1197.
    13. Caroline Krafft & Ragui Assaad & Isabel Pastoor, 2024. "How Do Gender Norms Shape Education and Domestic Work Outcomes? The Case of Syrian Refugee Adolescents in Jordan," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 60(12), pages 1964-1993, December.
    14. Ölkers, Tim & Kirchner, Ella & Mußhoff, Oliver, 2023. "Terrorism and land use in agriculture: The case of Boko Haram in Nigeria - a replication attempt of the paper by Adelaja & George (2019)," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    15. Asha Abdel-Rahim & Dany Jaimovich & Aleksi Ylönen, 2018. "Forced displacement and behavioral change: an empirical study of returnee households in the Nuba Mountains," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(2), pages 190-220, February.
    16. repec:jku:cdlwps:2015_08 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Alinor Abdi Osman & Gumataw Kifle Abebe, 2023. "Rural Displacement and Its Implications on Livelihoods and Food Insecurity: The Case of Inter-Riverine Communities in Somalia," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-19, July.
    18. Efobi, Uchenna & Adejumo, Oluwabunmi & Nnadozie, Obianuju & Omoju, Oluwasola & Ekisola, Adeniyi, 2024. "From subsidies to nutrition: Investigating effects among cohort children from the Subsidy Reinvestment programme in Nigeria," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 362(C).
    19. Ivan Zilic, 2018. "Effect of forced displacement on health," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 181(3), pages 889-906, June.
    20. Burçak Müge TUNAER-VURAL, 2020. "Impact of Syrian Forced Migration on Turkish Economy," Sosyoekonomi Journal, Sosyoekonomi Society, issue 28(43).
    21. Ivlevs, Artjoms & Veliziotis, Michail, 2017. "Beyond Conflict: Long-Term Labour Market Integration of Internally Displaced Persons in Post-Socialist Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 11215, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fpr:ssspwp:23. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ifprius.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.