According to Al Jazeera, Sudan's three-and-a-half-year civil war has led to a sharp increase in drug costs, forcing many chronic disease patients to choose between buying food and medicine. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) noted that the war has set Sudan's income levels back to the 1990s. The civil war has also caused approximately $500 million in damage to Sudan's pharmaceutical supply system, including inventory, infrastructure, and transportation fleets. Of the 30 pharmaceutical factories in the capital Khartoum, only 8 have resumed operations, exacerbating the reliance on imported medicines. Meanwhile, the Sudanese pound has depreciated against the US dollar on the black market from approximately 600:1 before the war to 9300:1, further driving up drug prices and making daily essential medicines unaffordable for many patients.