Public Policy & NGOs
Here's a look at documents from public policy and non-governmental organizations
Featured Stories
Read the Latest From NCFR's Scholarly Journals
ST. PAUL, Minnesota, Feb. 3 -- The National Council on Family Relations issued the following news:
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Read the Latest From NCFR's Scholarly Journals
Articles Published Jan. 25-31
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Keep up with the latest research from NCFR's three scholarly journals -- Journal of Marriage and Family (JMF), Family Relations: Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Science (FR), and Journal of Family Theory & Review (JFTR).
Newest Journal Issues:
FR February 2026 issue (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/17413729/2026/75/1): Features articles on family education programs, older adults and families,
... Show Full Article
ST. PAUL, Minnesota, Feb. 3 -- The National Council on Family Relations issued the following news:
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Read the Latest From NCFR's Scholarly Journals
Articles Published Jan. 25-31
*
Keep up with the latest research from NCFR's three scholarly journals -- Journal of Marriage and Family (JMF), Family Relations: Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Science (FR), and Journal of Family Theory & Review (JFTR).
Newest Journal Issues:
FR February 2026 issue (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/17413729/2026/75/1): Features articles on family education programs, older adults and families,coparenting, education and research, health and family, family finances and resources, and more.
JMF February 2026 issue (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/17413737/2026/88/1): Includes articles on families and incarceration, partnered relationship dynamics, parenthood and parenting, coparenting, and more.
JFTR December 2025 special issue (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/17562589/2025/17/4): This special issue, themed "Theorizing and Doing Critical Intersectional Family Science" and guest edited by NCFR Fellow April L. Few-Demo, Ph.D., and NCFR members Veronica R. Barrios, Ph.D., and Dana A. Weiser, Ph.D., "invited interdisciplinary scholars to consider how intersectionality has evolved and expanded, to examine tensions and challenges with applying an intersectional lens, and to address how intersectionality has been utilized in pedagogy, research, and praxis."
New Early-View Articles Published Online (Jan. 25-31):
Journal of Marriage and Family:
* Exposure and Emotional Reactivity to Daily Stressors in Same-Sex and Different-Sex Marriages (open access) -- Michael A. Garcia, Rachel Donnelly, Debra Umberson
* Depressive Symptoms Mediate the Associations of Family Economic Pressure With Social Functioning: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study of Chinese Families (open access) -- Chun Bun Lam, Anthony Ho Wai Lam, Xiaomin Li, Kevin Kien Hoa Chung
* Why Parenthood Strains Relationships: Investigating the Mechanisms Behind Declining Relationship Satisfaction (open access) -- Matthias Pollmann-Schult
Family Relations:
* Never Been In A Romantic Relationship: Singleness and Romantic Relationship Participation in Emerging Adults -- Leah E. LeFebvre, Heather A. Love
* For love or money: Prenuptial agreements and marital quality--a brief report -- Jeffrey Dew
* Through good and bad times: Perceived responsiveness in Malaysian relationship quality and satisfaction -- Priscilla M. De Netto, Elizabeth Jones, Karen J. Golden, Kia Fatt Quek, Shelly L. Gable
* Overprotective Parenting: Examining pressures to be perfect, social media comparisons, world instability and parent anxiety -- Katherine M. Ryan, Melanie J. Zimmer-Gembeck, Tanya Hawes, Jaimee Stuart, Gregoire Zimmermann, Bart Soenens, Stijn Van Petegem
* "Treading on eggshells": Communication between mothers and children in out-of-home care -- Stephanie Richardson, Nneamaka Ekebuisi
* Parent-child interaction quality mediates the relationship between parental self-efficacy and child vocabulary (open access) -- Kristina Strother-Garcia, Britt Singletary, Daniela Avelar, Laura Justice
* Dimensions of harsh parenting and Chinese adolescents' internalizing problems: Roles of emotion regulation and neuroticism -- Shuang Bi, Linfei Liu, Qi Liu, Yaping Cao
* The impact of digital reverse mentoring on the digital integration of older adults in Macao -- Haotian Wan, Hongyu Wang
* Mental health in parents of very preterm infants at 12months: Influential variables and profiles (open access) -- Maria Merced Barbancho-Morant, Eva M. Padilla-Munoz, Susana Sanduvete-Chaves, Salvador Chacon-Moscoso, Maria Dolores Lanzarote-Fernandez
NCFR member journal subscribers can access articles by logging into their NCFR account.
Learn more about NCFR's scholarly journals prior to submitting your manuscript.
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NCFR is a nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
whose members support all families through
research, teaching, practice, and advocacy.
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Original text here: https://www.ncfr.org/news/read-latest-ncfrs-scholarly-journals
[Category: Sociological]
PennEnvironment: Bill to Set Appliance Energy Efficiency Standards Passes PA House, Moves to State Senate
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, Feb. 3 -- PennEnvironment issued the following news release on Feb. 2, 2026:
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Bill to set appliance energy efficiency standards passes PA House, moves to state Senate
Legislation would set energy efficiency requirements for 15 appliances sold in PA, predicted to reduce climate pollution by more than 6 million tons, save consumers over $7.7 billion
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HARRISBURG, PA- State House Reps. Jennifer O'Mara (D-Delaware County) and Tom Mehaffie (R-Dauphin County)'s House Bill 660 passed the Pennsylvania House with bipartisan support Monday. If signed into law, the bill
... Show Full Article
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, Feb. 3 -- PennEnvironment issued the following news release on Feb. 2, 2026:
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Bill to set appliance energy efficiency standards passes PA House, moves to state Senate
Legislation would set energy efficiency requirements for 15 appliances sold in PA, predicted to reduce climate pollution by more than 6 million tons, save consumers over $7.7 billion
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HARRISBURG, PA- State House Reps. Jennifer O'Mara (D-Delaware County) and Tom Mehaffie (R-Dauphin County)'s House Bill 660 passed the Pennsylvania House with bipartisan support Monday. If signed into law, the billwould set minimum appliance efficiency standards for a set of 15 household and commercial appliances and plumbing fixtures sold new in the commonwealth.
If enacted, these standards are projected to save Pennsylvania residents and businesses hundreds of millions of dollars each year, and cut climate pollution by hundreds of thousands of tons annually.
"I am thrilled that this legislation has once again passed the House with bipartisan support," said State Rep. Jennifer O'Mara. "By establishing energy and water efficiency standards, we keep more money in the pockets of Pennsylvania business owners and residents while also reducing our carbon footprint. With the cost of living continuing to increase, it's more important than ever to find ways to lower costs for Pennsylvania families. "
"The cleanest, cheapest energy is the energy that you don't need to use in the first place. That's why energy efficiency standards are such a smart policy option," said Flora Cardoni, PennEnvironment's Deputy Director. "Small but mighty, appliance efficiency standards are a simple way to reduce energy consumption, lower pollution, and generate huge savings for Pennsylvania consumers and businesses."
By 2035, the annual benefits from the efficiency standards in HB660 would include:
* Save enough electricity to power around 46,000 Pennsylvania homes each year.
* Reduce consumer utility bills by $291 million each year, with total savings reaching more than $7.7 billion by 2050
* Reduce carbon emissions by 269 thousand metric tons annually, the equivalent of taking almost 63,000 cars off the road each year. By 2050 those reductions would reach more than 6 million metric tons.
* Save 8,663 million gallons of water annually; equivalent to the annual water consumption of about 163,00 Pennsylvania families. By 2050, the state would save 227 billion gallons of water.
"Energy-efficient appliances save money for consumers month after month, allowing the savings to build," said Representative Tom Mehaffie. "This is a bill to ease pressures on Pennsylvanians' household budgets."
HB660 had more than 40 House cosponsors from across the state. It now moves to the state Senate.
"Establishing energy efficiency standards for appliances will give hardworking Pennsylvanians all the information they need to make the best choices for their families and their budgets, "said Rep Elizabeth Fiedler, Chair of the House Energy Committee. "HB660's passage by the House of Representative is especially significant at a time when our neighbors are facing sky-high utility bills. I'm hopeful that my colleagues in the Senate will take up the bill."
"Data centers and AI companies have caused electric and water bills to skyrocket," said Senator Lindsey Williams, the lead sponsor of HB 660's companion language in the state Senate (SB 424)."While we work to make sure that these billionaire tech companies pay their share without passing costs onto Pennsylvanians, individuals can reduce their utility bills with modern, energy-efficient appliances that use less energy. The House has done its work to lower everyday costs for families; I encourage Senate leadership to do the same and bring this legislation up for a vote."
The legislation has been supported by over 30 environmental and consumer organizations, including the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project and Audubon Mid-Atlantic.
"It makes no sense to continue using energy-wasting technologies when we have high-performing, efficient appliance models that lower our costs and better protect the environment," said Brooke Lockwood, State Policy Associate at the Appliance Standards Awareness Project. "Let's make sure Pennsylvania is a part of the movement to embrace efficient products that save money and reduce pollution."
We ask the senate to take up and approve this legislation swiftly, and send it to the Governor's desk for passage.
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PennEnvironment works for clean air, clean water, clean energy, wildlife and open spaces, and a livable climate. Our members across the state put grassroots support behind our research and advocacy. For more information about our work, visit www.PennEnvironment.org. PennEnvironment is part of Environment America, a national network of 29 state environmental groups.
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Original text here: https://environmentamerica.org/pennsylvania/media-center/bill-to-set-appliance-energy-efficiency-standards-passes-pa-house-moves-to-state-senate/
[Category: Environment]
PLC and BLM Sign MOU to Promote Grazing Allotment Cooperative Monitoring
WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 -- Public Lands Council, an organization that represents cattle and sheep producers who hold public lands grazing permits, issued the following news release on Feb. 2, 2026:
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PLC and BLM Sign MOU to Promote Grazing Allotment Cooperative Monitoring
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - Today, the Public Lands Council (PLC) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to promote cooperative monitoring of grazing allotments on BLM lands. The MOU will help public lands ranchers and local BLM officials cooperate to collect and analyze
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 -- Public Lands Council, an organization that represents cattle and sheep producers who hold public lands grazing permits, issued the following news release on Feb. 2, 2026:
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PLC and BLM Sign MOU to Promote Grazing Allotment Cooperative Monitoring
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - Today, the Public Lands Council (PLC) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to promote cooperative monitoring of grazing allotments on BLM lands. The MOU will help public lands ranchers and local BLM officials cooperate to collect and analyzedata on rangeland health to ensure higher quality management of federal rangeland.
"Federal lands ranchers manage millions of acres of federal land through livestock grazing as well as voluntary conservation work, ranchers strive to improve range conditions every day. To help boost these management efforts, data is needed to help ranchers make decisions on the landscape and this MOU will allow BLM and grazing permittees to better share the information that is key to those management efforts," said PLC Tim Canterbury. "The Public Lands Council is thrilled to join BLM in this cooperative monitoring agreement that will strengthen partnerships between agency officials and producers. We look forward to continuing our work with BLM and utilizing this MOU to improve and protect America's treasured natural resources."
"Public lands ranchers are essential partners in sustaining healthy rangelands," said Acting BLM Director Bill Groffy. "Their on-the-ground knowledge and stewardship play a critical role in managing and protecting these resources for future generations. This MOU strengthens our ability to work side by side with permittees and other partners, ensuring that decisions are informed by sound data and collaborative monitoring. Together, we can achieve resilient landscapes that support productive grazing, healthy wildlife habitat and clean water."
The MOU provides a clear path for more efficient data collection and information sharing between grazing permittees and BLM. PLC signed a similar MOU with the Forest Service in 2022, and these monitoring activities have proven to be integral factors in the decisions grazing permittees make to keep rangelands healthy and resilient through grazing activities. The data collected by permittees through approved and agreed upon methods will provide the agency with a larger set of reference points when evaluating rangeland health and resource management and clear records of the positive results from producers' investments in resilient rangelands, healthy wildlife habitat, and robust watersheds.
The MOU is in effect from 2026 until January 2031.
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Original text here: https://publiclandscouncil.org/news/details/46648/plc-and-blm-sign-mou-to-promote-grazing-allotment-cooperative-monitoring
[Category: Environment]
Food & Water Watch: PA Data Center Opponents Condemn Shapiro-Supported Model Ordinance
WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 [Category: Science] -- The Food and Water Watch posted the following news release on Feb. 2, 2026:
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PA Data Center Opponents Condemn Shapiro-Supported Model Ordinance
HB2151 threatens to speed up controversial data center construction statewide
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Harrisburg, PA -- Today, the House Energy Committee held a hearing for HB2151, a Shapiro-backed bill that would provide a model data center ordinance intended to speed controversial data center development. This comes amidst widespread community backlash to data center proposals. Developers have submitted applications for over
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 [Category: Science] -- The Food and Water Watch posted the following news release on Feb. 2, 2026:
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PA Data Center Opponents Condemn Shapiro-Supported Model Ordinance
HB2151 threatens to speed up controversial data center construction statewide
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Harrisburg, PA -- Today, the House Energy Committee held a hearing for HB2151, a Shapiro-backed bill that would provide a model data center ordinance intended to speed controversial data center development. This comes amidst widespread community backlash to data center proposals. Developers have submitted applications for over20 new hyper-scale data centers in Pennsylvania, with numerous other proposals held up by zoning constraints. The House Energy Committee has scheduled a vote this Wednesday at 10 am.
Community opposition to data center development is palpable throughout Pennsylvania, with communities stopping projects at the municipal level before development begins, citing concerns with electricity costs, water and energy use, land use changes, community impact, job loss, and more. Attempts by the data center industry to install their own zoning ordinances have been defeated locally, and municipalities are working to enact strong ordinances to protect residents from the harmful impacts of this new industrial use. HB2151 would undermine these efforts.
Food & Water Watch Eastern Pennsylvania Senior Organizer Ginny Marcille-Kerslake issued the following statement:
"HB2151 would undermine Pennsylvanians' herculean grassroots efforts to keep dirty data centers out of our communities -- it must be stopped.
"This bill pushes Shapiro's reckless embrace of data centers even further onto communities struggling to grapple with Big Tech's land, power and water grab. Local governments and residents deserve confidence that zoning rules are written for the public good, not by an agency that has been making backroom deals to fast-track data centers. HB2151 must die in committee."
In October, Food & Water Watch became the first national group to call for a data center moratorium.Over 250+ organizations have since joined the call -- including 17 from Pennsylvania.
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Original text here: https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2026/02/02/pa-data-center-opponents-condemn-shapiro-supported-model-ordinance/
Earthjustice: Trump Administration Prepares for New Oil and Gas Auction in Alaska's Arctic Refuge
SAN FRANCISCO, California, Feb. 3 -- Earthjustice issued the following news release on Feb. 2, 2026:
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Trump Administration Prepares for New Oil and Gas Auction in Alaska's Arctic Refuge
Interior's "Call for Nominations" invites companies to choose public lands areas it wants to bid on in a future lease sale
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Anchorage, AK -- The U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) today took a key step toward leasing public land in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas drilling. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued a Call for Nominations seeking feedback on which public lands parcels
... Show Full Article
SAN FRANCISCO, California, Feb. 3 -- Earthjustice issued the following news release on Feb. 2, 2026:
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Trump Administration Prepares for New Oil and Gas Auction in Alaska's Arctic Refuge
Interior's "Call for Nominations" invites companies to choose public lands areas it wants to bid on in a future lease sale
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Anchorage, AK -- The U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) today took a key step toward leasing public land in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas drilling. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued a Call for Nominations seeking feedback on which public lands parcelsshould be offered for lease across the Refuge's 1.56-million-acre Coastal Plain.
The Call for Nominations is part of BLM's process of collecting input for an upcoming lease sale, one of four called for in the 2025 Reconciliation bill. The upcoming sale would be the first for the Refuge implementing the Trump administration's newly adopted maximalist leasing plan that opens the entire Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to leasing.
Oil and gas exploration and drilling could destroy a globally significant wildlife refuge in Alaska that is held sacred by Gwich'in people and sustains iconic Arctic species such as polar bears, caribou and migratory birds.
The notice, which will be published tomorrow in the Federal Register, includes a 30-day comment period open to the public. During a similar action in the Western Arctic, tens of thousands of people spoke up in favor of protections for the Arctic, not more oil and gas drilling.
The following is a statement from Earthjustice Managing Attorney Erik Grafe:
"People have worked together for decades to defend the Arctic Refuge, because this unique landscape is too special to be sacrificed to the oil industry for profit. Tripling down on oil development in the Arctic takes us in exactly the wrong direction in our existential fight to curb climate change and protect these critically important public lands. The Trump administration spent 2025 waging an all-out assault on public lands in Alaska's Arctic, while ignoring the voices of Indigenous communities that hold these lands sacred and jeopardizing the survival of Arctic wildlife. We've already taken steps to challenge Interior's overall leasing plan for the Arctic Refuge in court, and we're prepared to continue the fight as this lease sale process grinds on."
Background
Today's Call for Nominations may soon be followed by a Notice of Lease Sale - the next step BLM must take before it holds an auction divvying up the Coastal Plain to fossil-fuel industry bidders. These agency actions follow a Senate resolution that passed into law in December that struck down a 2024 management plan for the Coastal Plain that limited areas available for lease.
The Congressional action mirrored Interior's decision to reverse the Biden administration's 2024 drilling program for the Coastal Plain, announced in October amidst the government shutdown, in accordance with an executive order President Trump issued on his first day in office. In re-adopting its maximalist oil program from President Trump's first term, Interior opened the entire coastal plain to leasing and destructive industrial seismic surveying, prioritizing oil development over all other values. Earthjustice challenged President Trump's original leasing plan and is already in court challenging this newest version. On Dec. 18, Earthjustice filed a Notice of Intent to Sue on behalf of clients to challenge Interior's October decision, citing harm to threatened polar bears protected under the Endangered Species Act.
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Additional Resources
* Related case documents & news (https://earthjustice.org/library?_case=arctic-refuge-oil-and-gas-lease-sale)
* About the Alaska Office (https://earthjustice.org/office/alaska/)
About Earthjustice
Earthjustice is the premier nonprofit environmental law organization. We wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people's health, to preserve magnificent places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change. We are here because the earth needs a good lawyer.
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Original text here: https://earthjustice.org/press/2026/trump-administration-prepares-for-new-oil-and-gas-auction-in-alaskas-arctic-refuge
[Category: Environment]
Cato's Levy: Trump Administration Continues to Exceed Legal and Constitutional Limits
WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 -- Cato Institute issued the following news release:
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Cato's Levy: Trump Administration Continues to Exceed Legal and Constitutional Limits
Throughout President Donald Trump's second term in office, his administration has continued to expand the powers of the executive branch. A new blog post in a series of addendum's from the Cato's Robert Levy, details four questions about the limits of executive power:
* Can the president summarily kill drug dealers?
* Do soldiers have to obey illegal orders?
* Was the president authorized to seize Nicolas Maduro?
* Has ICE exceeded
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 -- Cato Institute issued the following news release:
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Cato's Levy: Trump Administration Continues to Exceed Legal and Constitutional Limits
Throughout President Donald Trump's second term in office, his administration has continued to expand the powers of the executive branch. A new blog post in a series of addendum's from the Cato's Robert Levy, details four questions about the limits of executive power:
* Can the president summarily kill drug dealers?
* Do soldiers have to obey illegal orders?
* Was the president authorized to seize Nicolas Maduro?
* Has ICE exceededits immigration enforcement authority?
You can read Robert Levy's previous addendums on the expansion of executive power below:
* On the Expansion of Executive Power: Addendum (https://www.cato.org/blog/expansion-executive-power-addendum-0)
* On the Expansion of Executive Power: Addendum II (https://www.cato.org/blog/expansion-executive-power-addendum-ii)
To speak with Levy further on the expansion of executive power under President Trump, contact Christopher Tarvardian.
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Original text here: https://www.cato.org/news-releases/catos-levy-trump-administration-continues-exceed-legal-constitutional-limits#
[Category: Sociological]
As Sudan's War Rages On, Doctors Fight to Rebuild Care for Patients With Cancer, Diabetes, and Other Complex Diseases
SANTA BARBARA, California, Feb. 3 -- Direct Relief issued the following news:
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As Sudan's War Rages On, Doctors Fight to Rebuild Care for Patients with Cancer, Diabetes, and Other Complex Diseases
People with chronic diseases are at greater risk of dying without medicine during a conflict. When civil war began, Direct Relief significantly expanded its work in Sudan to supply providers with wartime support to manage cancer, diabetes, kidney disease, hemophilia, and much more.
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When civil war first broke out in Sudan, medical care for children with diabetes was upended. Sudanese families
... Show Full Article
SANTA BARBARA, California, Feb. 3 -- Direct Relief issued the following news:
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As Sudan's War Rages On, Doctors Fight to Rebuild Care for Patients with Cancer, Diabetes, and Other Complex Diseases
People with chronic diseases are at greater risk of dying without medicine during a conflict. When civil war began, Direct Relief significantly expanded its work in Sudan to supply providers with wartime support to manage cancer, diabetes, kidney disease, hemophilia, and much more.
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When civil war first broke out in Sudan, medical care for children with diabetes was upended. Sudanese familiesscattered across the country, and many of the clinics where their children received insulin and other elements of diabetes treatment were abandoned or damaged amid the violence.
Untold numbers of these children died, said Dr. Salwa Elhassan, a pediatric endocrinologist and the clinic coordinator for the Sudanese Childhood Diabetes Association, or SCDA.
But nearly three years later, even as the conflict continues to rage, the situation is "much more stable than it was a few months ago," Dr. Elhassan said.
The SCDA, Sudan's Federal Ministry of Health, the country's National Drug Supply Fund, and Direct Relief have worked together to build a stronger supply chain for insulin and other diabetes treatment items.
"Children and families can now access insulin closer to where they live," Dr. Elhassan said. "For healthcare providers, this has made clinical work more efficient and safer. With reliable access to insulin and supplies, providers can make better treatment decisions and manage diabetes emergencies more accurately."
When conflict breaks out, humanitarian groups often focus most on emergent needs: physical injury, triage, and restoring basic primary services. While all of these are essential and lifesaving, it often means people with more complex conditions, like cancer, diabetes, kidney disease, or hemophilia, go without the treatment they need to stay alive.
"Even though chronic conditions require constant attention and resources, they are often forgotten in conflict settings, except by the people who need or provide that care every day," explained Kelsey Grodzovsky, Direct Relief's director of global programs.
Against a background of war, and with decades of experience supporting Sudanese providers, Direct Relief works with on-the-ground partners across Sudan to rebuild access to treatment for diabetes, cancer, kidney disease, and other chronic diseases that form some of the most severe, widespread risks to health in a conflict.
Direct Relief's support to Sudan has totaled more than $31 million since April of 2023, and included insulin and other diabetes treatments for both children and adults; cold chain support for temperature-sensitive medications, including two 40-foot containers for centralized cold chain storage and 35 solar-powered refrigerators; treatments and funding for kidney disease, dialysis, and transplant; cancer medications; acute stroke medicines; treatments for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, lifesaving anticoagulants; and Factor VIII for hemophilia.
In addition, Direct Relief supports health providers in South Sudan and Chad who provide healthcare to refugees from the war as well as local populations.
These partners include the International Organization for Migration in South Sudan, which provides comprehensive healthcare to displaced and local populations, and Chad's Ministry of Public Health and Prevention.
"Direct Relief has played a crucial role," Dr. Elhassan said.
"This is How"
During Sudan's civil war, the supply chain for cancer medicines "came to a stop, basically," said Dr. Iman Ahmed, a Sudanese-Canadian global health expert who works with Direct Relief and other nonprofit organizations to place oncology medicines in the country.
"Since the onset of the conflict, [violence] has systematically destroyed the health system," Dr. Ahmed said. Hospitals were attacked and militia-controlled supply routes decimated the country's pharmaceutical supply system.
"This was especially challenging for cancer medicines," many of which must be stored and transported at precise - and precisely monitored - temperatures, Dr. Ahmed explained. (Insulin also requires precisely monitored cold-chain conditions to be safe and effective.)
She was especially concerned about cancer patients because she knew they'd be a lower priority.
"The humanitarian system...doesn't prioritize cancer," she said. Specialized oncology medications, which often require special importation measures and are more expensive, became all but unavailable.
Grodzovsky explained that diseases like cancer and diabetes can strain public health systems even without conflict, because they require more complex treatment and steady access to medicine.
"Even in stable settings, chronic disease medications can take up a significant share of public healthcare budgets," she said. "During conflict, those costs become harder to absorb as resources are strained and priorities shift to the most emergent needs."
To fill the gaps in oncological care and other medical specialties, experts like Dr. Ahmed have worked hand in hand with Direct Relief and other NGOs to create new supply chains for lifesaving medicines.
"When your shipments are coming, we are in a state of alert all along the chain of communication," she told Direct Relief. "This is how we are trying to create a safety net: mobilize and dispatch."
For Dr. Jeffrey Samuel, a clinical pharmacist and Direct Relief's Africa regional director, working with local providers and networks has been one of the great strengths of rebuilding medical access in the war-torn country.
Participating in specialized task forces, such as the International Society of Nephrology Sudan Task Force, and other collaborative efforts has made it possible for Direct Relief to receive real-time lists of the highest priority medicines and to move specialty medications quickly to providers in Sudan, as well as specialists in neighboring countries caring for Sudanese patients.
"In Sudan, the specialists are there, but the medicines often are not," he explained. "We are able to align our humanitarian supply chain with clinical expertise to help keep patients alive and in care during an incredibly fragile time."
"They're not going to buy any medication"
Dr. Hatim Hassan, a nephrologist at the Mayo Clinic, was born in Sudan and has dedicated the past few years to building dialysis centers and increasing access to transplant and treatment for Sudanese patients with kidney disease, through the Habib Al Rahman Charity Organization.
Today, the organization provides dialysis treatment, transplants, and other renal care at specialized centers in Omdurman and Port Sudan.
At least 6,000 patients in Sudan have end-stage renal disease and urgently require dialysis to survive, although Dr. Hassan said the actual number is likely to be much higher.
"The need is tremendous there right now," he said.
Kidney disease in Sudan has skyrocketed, Dr. Hassan explained. Part of the problem is that chronic diseases like hypertension and diabetes have gone widely untreated since the war began. Both of these conditions can quickly cause kidney disease when they're not properly managed, damaging the organ's blood vessels and reducing its ability to filter waste.
"People right now, they don't have money even just to buy water," he said. "If they have high blood pressure or diabetes, they're not going to buy any medication."
Before war broke out, he said, many people with chronic diseases were able to procure medication, and Sudan was able to provide dialysis care primarily through public facilities.
Direct Relief has provided extensive support to nephrology care in Sudan, shipping transplant medication and dialysis fluid to the Federal Ministry of Health, and awarding Habib Al Rahman Charity Organization with more than $240,000 in grant funding to support a solar power installation at the Habib Alrahman Charity Kidney Center in Omdurman, the transfer of hemodialysis supplies, and the purchase of additional transplant medications.
"Up Close and Personal"
Because conflict has made roads more dangerous and power more unreliable, being able to provide localized care is essential to saving Sudanese lives, multiple providers told Direct Relief.
The Sudanese Childhood Diabetes Association now has 26 clinics currently operational. Direct Relief provided 35 solar-powered medical refrigerators to store insulin across these facilities.
Dr. Elhassan called having reliable cold chain storage "a major achievement, allowing safe storage of insulin and ensuring continuity of care even during prolonged power outages."
This increase in stability doesn't translate to the areas where fighting is worst. Dr. Elhassan described having to transport insulin, blood glucose meters, and test strips via military aircraft to the city of Ad-Damazin, which was under siege, because there was no other way to get them to patients.
And getting insulin to the western areas of Sudan, currently under Rapid Support Forces control, is still extremely difficult. Dr. Elhassan said the organization's two clinics in that area are unable to operate, and displacement and violence have made it impossible to keep track of how many pediatric patients in the Darfur area have survived.
Rebuilding specialty medicine, with its focus on more complex diseases and treatment, is precarious during an ongoing war, Dr. Ahmed said.
"Many facilities undergo multiple, repeated attacks, and as we speak, there is no guarantee," she explained. "Many doctors have fled the country...Drugs and supplies still remain a challenge because we haven't rebuilt the supply chains that existed before the war."
Like many members of the Sudanese diaspora, Dr. Ahmed has dedicated much of her time to building new pathways to aid in her country of origin. She has worked in conflict zones in Yemen and Syria, but Sudan's war is different.
"My connection with Sudan is unwavering," she said. "When this war happened, it was up close and personal."
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Original text here: https://www.directrelief.org/2026/02/as-sudans-war-rages-on-doctors-fight-to-rebuild-care-for-patients-with-cancer-diabetes-and-other-complex-diseases/
[Category: Health Care]
