Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 17. november 2007 / Timeline November 17, 2007
Version 3.516. November 2007, 18. November 2007
11/17/2007
SUFFER THE CHILDREN
Number of children dying higher than when the country was under
sanctions.
By Hind al-Safar in Baghdad
Child mortality in Iraq has spiralled because of the tense security
situation, deteriorating health services and lack of medical
supplies, say experts.
According to a report released in May 2007 by aid agency Save the
Children, “Iraq’s child mortality rate has increased by
a staggering 150 per cent since 1990, more than any other
country.”
The report, entitled State of the World’s Mothers 2007, said
that some 122,000 Iraqi children - the equivalent of one in eight -
died in 2005, before reaching their fifth birthday. More than half
of the deaths were among newborn babies in their first month of
life.
“Even before the latest war, Iraqi mothers and children were
facing a grave humanitarian crisis caused by years of repression,
conflict and external sanctions,” said the report.
“Since 2003, electricity shortages, insufficient clean water,
deteriorating health services and soaring inflation have worsened
already difficult living conditions.”
The study listed pneumonia and diarrhoea as major killers of
children in Iraq, together accounting for over 30 per cent of child
deaths.
“Conservative estimates place increases in infant mortality
following the 2003 invasion of Iraq at 37 per cent,” it
said.
In the capital of Baghdad, there are four paediatric hospitals and
three gynaecological hospitals, as well as individual
children’s wards in other medical institutions.
The city’s central paediatric hospital is in the
capital’s Islam neighbourhood - a volatile area which is hard
for families and medical staff to reach.
The hospitals fall short in providing quality care because they do
not have enough medical supplies or staff - who, in many cases,
have fled to other countries.
Experts draw parallels between the dire state of Iraq’s
health care system today and the way it was when the country was
under sanctions during the 1990s, when there was a similar limited
supply of drugs and other medical resources.
The UN Security Council imposed economic sanctions against Iraq in
1990, following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and these continued
until 2003.
In 2000, the UN children’s agency UNICEF published a survey
which showed the mortality rate among Iraqi children under five had
more than doubled in the government-controlled south and centre of
Iraq during the sanctions.
At the time, Anupama Rao Singh, a senior UNICEF official, said in
an interview with Reuters that around half a million children under
the age of five had died in Iraq since the international embargo
was imposed.
“In absolute terms, we estimate that perhaps about half a
million children under five years of age have died, who ordinarily
would not have died had the decline in mortality that was prevalent
over the 70s and the 80s continued through the 90s,” she
said.
Mohammed Zahraw, a paediatrician with the ministry of
health’s inspector-general’s office, said that similar
threats to children’s health exist today and that these
are compounded by the lack of security which now prevails in
Iraq.
"In the past [infant deaths] were caused by the economic sanctions
and the lack of medicine and medical supplies. The same problem
exists now, in addition to the deteriorating security situation.
This is particularly true in Baghdad, where it’s difficult to
access hospitals," he said.
Fahima Salman, the head of the inspector-general’s monitoring
force, said the primary reason for high infant mortality in Iraq is
a lack of drugs and medical supplies.
The inspector-general’s office at the health ministry is
tasked with inspecting hospitals and reports back to the ministry
on the sanitation, performances and needs of health facilities.
Salman said that poor security and a lack of transport meant that
it was hard to transfer drugs and supplies to hospitals and
clinics. This means that families of patients usually buy basic
medicine, such as antibiotics and hydrocortisone, on the black
market and bring the medicine to the hospital or clinic.
"We, as the inspector general's office, visit health facilities to
determine the level of shortages and note the difficulties,”
said Salman. “We try to provide what we can…but we
still face major challenges."
Sometimes, drug deliveries fail to reach the ministry of
health’s warehouses, and go missing en route.
Amal Abdul-Amir, a paediatrician at the Yarmook Teaching Hospital
in Baghdad’s Karkh area, said that infants were also dying
because paediatricians and gynaecologists had fled the country in
droves, resulting in a lack of skilled staff.
“People are turning to midwives who do not necessarily have
experience with births or emergency cases,” she explained.
“This is causing the number of infant mortalities to
rise."
In hospitals throughout the country, it is not uncommon to hear the
wails of grieving mothers, such as 30-year-old Zaineb Mohammed,
whose two-month-old baby died after she failed to get him to
hospital in time.
She told IWPR that en route to the hospital in the impoverished
Baghdad suburb of Sadr City, her family was repeatedly stopped at
roadblocks and checkpoints erected to combat security problems
there.
The delays caused the child’s condition to worsen and when
they finally arrived there weren’t paediatric specialists to
treat her.
Mohammed has vowed not to have another child. "I don’t think
that I can bear to lose another baby to the poor health and public
services in Iraq," she said.
Hind al-Safar is an IWPR contributor in Baghdad.
HALABJA WOMEN VICTIMS COMPLAIN OF NEGLECT
Survivors of the chemical attack say they’ve received little
or no medical treatment.
By Aziz Mahmood in Sulaimaniyah
Women who suffered chronic illnesses in the wake of a horrific
chemical attack nearly 20 years ago say they have been largely
neglected.
Of those who survived Saddam Hussein’s chemical attacks
against the town of Halabja in 1988, many developed ovarian or
cervical cancer - and have since died; or suffer from depression or
psychiatric-related problems. In addition, some became infertile,
while others gave birth to handicapped and stillborn babies
“I have difficulties sleeping at night,” said Mahbooha
Faraj, a 47-year-old woman who survived the attack. She now suffers
from respiratory and eye problems, and believes that the attack
made her infertile.
“One of my eyes is getting weak, and I have not been able to
give birth,” she said.
Faraj, like many of Halabja’s victims, has been told that she
requires treatments outside of Iraq, yet no one has helped her to
receive medical aid.
In March 1988, Saddam’s military dropped a deadly cocktail of
mustard gas and nerve agents sarin, Tabun and possibly VX, on
Halabja, a town of about 80,000 people near the Iranian border.
The attack, which occurred at the end of the Iran-Iraq war killing
5,000 people and injuring thousands more, is considered the
largest-scale chemical weapons attack against a civilian
population. The US, which supported Saddam during the war, at first
blamed Iran, and later held Saddam responsible.
Since the attack, only one major study on the affects of the attack
has been conducted - and that was a decade ago. The health care
system there remains in shambles and few residents have access to
quality basic care, let alone specialised treatment.
Halabja’s medical care is sub-standard by all accounts.
Although the Kurdistan Regional Government has promised to build a
hospital, costing 13 million US dollars, a building contractor has
not yet been chosen, said KRG minister of health Dr Zryan
Osman.
Thousands complain of health problems, including skin ailments and
blindness; aggressive cancers; severe respiratory problems;
congenital malformations, such as heart defects; as well as
physical and mental handicaps.
Women say they are particularly neglected because there are few
female medical specialists inside or around Halabja to treat the
unique reproductive problems and cancers which many have.
The Society for Chemical Weapons Victims of Halabja estimates that
around 300 people are in critical condition. The organisation has
no statistics on how many of those are women.
As a result of its lobbying, the KRG recently agreed to send 69
patients - about half of whom are women - to Iran for diagnosis and
treatment. Two have since died, however - both of them women.
Kamil Abdulqadir Waiss, a representative of the society and himself
a victim of the chemical attacks, said that more studies need to be
conducted to better understand the type and scope of the medical
problems suffered by Halabja residents.
He said that female victims need specialists and that research must
be carried out to measure the effects the chemicals have had on
children.
While many hoped - and continue to hope - that the US would provide
support for the chemical weapons victims after overthrowing Saddam
in 2003, the town has received little American aid.
Residents protested at the lack of support for Halabja last year,
clashing with Kurdish forces. A teenage boy was killed during the
demonstration and a monument honouring the victims was burned.
Dr Ako Saeed, director-general of health for the Sharazoor area,
the centre of which is Halabja, said the lack of research into the
conditions suffered by the victims is the biggest obstacle to
progress.
At present, doctors can only speculate at this point about the
links between women’s health problems in Halabja and the
chemical attacks, he said.
“Day after day their health worsens,” he said.
“Their vision is weakening and some of them may go
blind.”
Osman defended the government against charges that it has neglected
victims, saying the problem is a lack of international
expertise.
“There are not many international experts who know about the
effects of chemical weapons, which is why [the government] has not
been able to bring experts to Halabja to do research,” he
said.
As the months and years have passed, many of Halabja’s women
victims have been left to suffer often agonising pain.
Taban Ali, 38, was pregnant during the chemical attack. She gave
birth to a girl, but has since been infertile. She also has a rash
and respiratory problems - two of the most common health complaints
of Halabja’s victims.
“I wait for death every night when I go to bed,” she
said, pulling up her sleeve to reveal red spots on her skin.
And her depression is overwhelming. Ali, who lost her entire family
in the attack, said the hardest thing for her to accept is that her
daughter will never have any siblings.
“I often burst into tears when I think about my
daughter’s life,” she said. “She will spend her
life like me, without brothers and sisters.”
Aziz Mahmood is an IWPR contributor in Sulaimaniyah.
www.iwpr.net
11/17/2007
Peace Education Conference
Alexander Hall, Bispetorvet 3
1167 Copenhagen K
13.15-14.00
Dr. Tadatoshi Akiba, Mayor of Hiroshima: Peace education in Japan 
14.00-14.30
Avery, John: UNESCO’s work in peace
education
14.30-15.00
Professor Peter Kemp, Danish University of Education:
THE COSMOPOLITAN IDEAL IN EDUCATION
15.00-15.30
Coffee break
15.30-16.00
Dr Mikael Aktor: Philosophy of SOKA education
and the human revolution
16.00-16.30
Dr. Tom Børsen: Teaching
ethics to science students
16.30-17.00
Dr. Bill Williams: Public peace
education
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