- Soaring rates of disease and a crippled health system
are posing a new crisis for the people of Iraq, threatening to kill more
than have died in the aftermath of the war. Deadly infections including
typhoid and tuberculosis are rampaging through the country, according to
the first official report into the state of health in the country.
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- The alarming evidence is the legacy of years of neglect,
crippling sanctions and two bloody conflicts. Iraq's network of hospitals
and health centres, once admired throughout the Middle East, has been severely
damaged by war and looting, leaving staff struggling to cope and adding
to the crisis.
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- The report, compiled by the Ministry of Health in Baghdad,
provides the first detailed portrait of the health of the Iraqi population
and the state of its health services since the 2003 war. It is being launched
today by Dr Ala'din Alwan, the Iraqi interim government's Minister of Health,
at a conference of international donors in Tokyo.
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- It charts the drastic decline in the health of the population
and the catastrophic deterioration in health services during Saddam Hussein's
era, one which has accelerated since the war. One third of the health centres
and one in eight of the hospitals was looted of furniture, fridges and
air conditioners or had equipment destroyed in the immediate aftermath
of the war.
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- Damage to water supplies and sanitation has led to a
surge in typhoid, with 5,460 cases recorded in the first quarter of 2004.
Almost one in five urban households and three in five rural households
do not have access to safe drinking water.
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- Poverty has risen sharply, with an estimated 27 per cent
of the population living on less than $2 a day in 2003, in a nation with
among the richest oil reserves in the world.
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- One in three children are chronically malnourished, putting
their lives at serious risk from outbreaks of measles, mumps and jaundice,
which are sweeping the country and infecting thousands. The report, compiled
from Ministry of Health data and international surveys, says mothers and
children have been hardest hit by a combination of domestic policies and
international sanctions stretching back over a decade. Infant and child
mortality doubled during the 1990s at a time when health was improving
in most other countries.
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- Between 1990 and 1998, the number of infants dying before
their first birthday rose from 40 to 103 for every 1,000 live births. Maternal
mortality rose almost threefold during the same period, with 279 deaths
in childbirth for every 100,000 live births.
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- Adult death rates have risen and life expectancy has
fallen to below 60 for men and women. Overall, Iraq's state of health is
now rated on a par with the impoverished countries of the Sudan, Yemen
and Afghanistan, where once it was ranked alongside Jordan and Kuwait,
the report says.
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- Dr Alwan said yesterday: "More Iraqis may have died
as a result of inappropriate health policies, sanctions and neglect of
the health sector over the past 15 years than from wars and violence. The
main causes were poverty, poor nutrition, the deterioration of water and
sanitation services and the collapse of health services ...Iraq used to
have one of the best health services in the region but Saddam did not consider
it a priority.The budget was cut by 90 per cent."
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- The report details the extensive looting and destruction
of health facilities since the war, which combined with unreliable electricity
and water supplies and the continuing threat of violence have added to
the problems.
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- Dr Alwan said Iraq was now facing a "double burden
of disease" from chronic conditions such as cancer, diabetes and heart
disease, which were growing rapidly, alongside a resurgence of infectious
diseases.
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- Cancer has been rising sharply for a decade, with most
cases diagnosed only when advanced, fewer than a quarter of diabetics receive
insulin and there is a growing problem of post- traumatic stress disorder,
especially among children, the report says.
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- ©2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd. All rights reserved
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