Health care system in Sudan : review and analysis of strength, weakness, opportunity, and threats(SWOT analysis)

• Published in: Sudan journal of medical sciences Vol. 12; no. 3; pp. 133 - 150
• Main Authors: Juni, Muhammad Hanafiah, Jabriwuat, Luam, Abd al-Ghaffar, Tasnim, Ibrahim, Ibrahim M. A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Omdurman, Sudan Omdurman Islamic University, Faculty of Medicine 06-09-2017; Knowledge E
• Subjects: Health Care System, Sudan, SWOT analysis
• ISSN: 1858-5051; 1858-5051
• DOI: 10.18502/sjms.v12i3.924

Background : The Republic ot the Sudan located in north-east of Africa and is
considered to be a lower-middle income country. The country has well established
healthcare system with many drawbacks mainly due to economic and managerial
reasons followed by prolonged political instability and sanctions. Objective: The aim
of this study is to give an insight over the health services system in Sudan and to
analyze the strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). Materials and
Methods : The search was done from two electronic databases : MEDLINE/Pubmed
and from public search engines: Google Scholar and Google with key Search
words used mainly as "Healthcare system in Sudan". Additionally, SWOT analysis of
healthcare system in Sudan was carried out based on the Roemer's model of health
service system. Results : The Sudanese healthcare system was analyzed for different
components of the system : The system in Sudan has full package of strategic plans
and policies be it in a long term or short. Despite this there is poor implementation
and organization along with frail health information system. The main external factors
that drawback the system is the overall economic instability which resulted in cutting
of the health expenditure. Conclusion: The Sudan is a rich country in terms of natural
resources and population. Its health service system has strengths and weaknesses.
It needs to build on its qualified human work force, stress on its well-designed short
and long-term strategies on health care system and the partnership with external
funding institutions, while overcoming the challenges on creating the proper health
information system, economic support system and centralization of health service
and professionals.