[Gothmog]

From:
pubmed.gov


http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/326/7388/520/e

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... t=Abstract

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... t=Abstract

Med Confl Surviv 2002 Jul-Sep;18(3):249-57 Related Articles, Links


Healthcare under sanctions in Iraq: an elective experience.

Akunjee M, Ali A.

Guy's, Kings and St Thomas' Hospital Medical Schools, London SE1 9RT.

As a consequence of the 1991 Gulf War and the ensuing UN sanctions, not only was the Iraqi government destroyed, but also the general infrastructure of the country was disrupted, with the civilian population and public services bearing much of the aftermath. Ten years after the war, the health system in Iraq is still in a perilous situation. The effects of sanctions have affected almost every aspect of medical care. There has been a mass exodus of health care professionals, many of whom were foreign nationals. Doctors' salaries fell rapidly to only $30 a month, barely enough to buy the necessities of daily living. Iraqi hospitals have no access to foreign journals, textbooks or the internet; leading to a generation of out-dated and under-skilled health professionals. Most worrying is the ever-present embargo on many essential medicines. Only one-third of the medicines are available for chemotherapy for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in children (UKALL 97 modified 99 protocol). At the Al-Mansour paediatric teaching hospital this shortfall has led to a substantial increase in childhood mortality, with disease-free survival rates falling to 25 per cent compared to 60 per cent in 1988.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... t=Abstract

East Mediterr Health J 2000 Jul;6(4):791-5 Related Articles, Links


Impact of sanctions on the population of Iraq.

Popal GR.

WHO Representative, Baghdad, Iraq.

In this article the impact of sanctions on the Iraqi people is reviewed. The health services and situation in Iraq before sanctions were imposed in 1990 are described indicating their adequacy. The adverse effect of the sanctions on the health services and on health indicators are outlined, as evidenced by, among others, the increased malnutrition among children, increased infant and under-5 mortality rates and the increase in foodborne and waterborne diseases. The situation in Iraq illustrates the devastating effects of sanctions on people, particularly children, adolescents, women and the elderly, and highlights the need for more balanced and comprehensive humanitarian programmes.

PMID: 11794085 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... t=Abstract

Comment in:
Lancet. 2000 Aug 19;356(9230):685.
Lancet. 2000 Aug 19;356(9230):685.

Sanctions and childhood mortality in Iraq.

Ali MM, Shah IH.

Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, UK. Mohamed.Ali@lshtm.ac.uk

BACKGROUND: In 1999 UNICEF, in cooperation with the government of Iraq and the local authorities in the "autonomous" (northern Kurdish) region, conducted two similar surveys to provide regionally representative and reliable estimates of child mortality (the subject of this paper) and maternal mortality. METHODS: In a cross-sectional household survey in the south/centre of Iraq in February and March, 1999, 23105 ever-married women aged 15-49 years living in sampled households were interviewed by trained interviewers with a structured questionnaire that was developed using the Demographic and Health Surveys questionnaire and following a pre-test. In a similar survey in the autonomous region in April and May 14 035 ever-married women age 15-49 were interviewed. FINDINGS: In the south/centre, infant and under-5 mortality increased during the 10 years before the survey, which roughly corresponds to the period following the Gulf conflict and the start of the United Nations sanctions. Infant mortality rose from 47 per 1000 live births during 1984-89 to 108 per 1000 in 1994-99, and under-5 mortality rose from 56 to 131 per 1000 live births. In the autonomous region during the same period, infant mortality declined from 64 to 59 per 1000 and under-5 mortality fell from 80 to 72 per 1000. Childhood mortality was higher among children born in rural areas, children born to women with no education, and in boys, and these differentials were broadly similar in the two regions. INTERPRETATION: Childhood mortality clearly increased after the Gulf conflict and under UN sanctions in the south/centre of Iraq, but in the autonomous region since the start of the Oil-for-Food Programme childhood mortality has begun to decline. Better food and resource allocation to the autonomous region contributed to the continued gains in lower mortality, whereas the situation in the south/centre deteriorated despite the high level of literacy in that region.

PMID: 10866440 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

-My note: this article is used to prove that Saddam and not the embargo are resposible
by deaths. Critics of this point of view argue that the frontier in the North is more
porous an so it is easier to evade sanctions, that the North receive its share of the
oil for food program in money an the relative (per capita) share of the oil for food
program is higher in the North.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... t=Abstract


Effect of the Gulf War on infant and child mortality in Iraq.

Ascherio A, Chase R, Cote T, Dehaes G, Hoskins E, Laaouej J, Passey M, Qaderi S, Shuqaidef S, Smith MC, et al.

Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02138.

BACKGROUND. Increased malnutrition and morbidity among Iraqi children after the onset of the Persian Gulf war have been reported by several fact-finding missions. The magnitude of the effect of the war and the economic embargo on child mortality remains uncertain, however. METHODS. We conducted a survey of 271 clusters of 25 to 30 households each, chosen as a representative sample of the Iraqi population. The households were selected and the interviews conducted by an international team of public health professionals independent of Iraqi authorities. In each household all women 15 to 49 years of age were interviewed, and the dates of birth and death of all children born on or after January 1, 1985, were recorded. RESULTS. The study population included 16,076 children, 768 of whom died during the period surveyed (January 1, 1985, to August 31, 1991). The age-adjusted relative mortality for the period after the war began, as compared with the period before the war, was 3.2 (95 percent confidence interval, 2.8 to 3.7). No material change in the relative risk was observed after adjustment for region of residence, maternal education, and maternal age. The increase in mortality after the onset of the war was higher among children 1 to less than 12 months old (relative risk, 4.1; 95 percent confidence interval, 3.3 to 5.2) and among those 12 to less than 60 months old (relative risk, 3.8; 95 percent confidence interval, 2.6 to 5.4) than among those less than 1 month old (relative risk, 1.8; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.4 to 2.4). The association between the war and mortality was stronger in northern Iraq (relative risk, 5.3) and southern Iraq (relative risk, 3.4) than in the central areas (relative risk, 1.9) or in Baghdad (relative risk, 1.7). CONCLUSIONS. These results provide strong evidence that the Gulf war and trade sanctions caused a threefold increase in mortality among Iraqi children under five years of age. We estimate that more than 46,900 children died between January and August 1991.

PMID: 1513350 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[Proctor]

All I have to say in response to that is...Just as well that's being sorted out now isn't it?

[Tovarish Spetsnaz]

Its not all well Proctor. This was a genocide of gigantic propotions carried out against the Iraqi people. No one will ever be held accountable for it. The Bushs, Clinton, all the US and foreing governments that killed nearly 2 million Iraqis...will all get away with it. And whats worse...is that they have the open door to do this again in any other country.

A few weeks ago I was at this event organized by the Voices in the Wilderness group as well as some local Muslim group...about the situation in Iraq (this was after the war ended). One guy who had been to Iraq back in 1996 spoke about what he saw in Iraqi hospitals. The conditions he said were horrible. Iraq...which until 1990 had the BEST medical system in the ME...now was beyound third world. There were no bed sheets he said, because there were no machines to wash them...so the family had to bring its own sheets. Most Iraqis...couldn't even afford bed sheets...so most patients had none. There was no electricity most of the time, no running water either. A doctor he spoke to started crying as he described the conditions. He said EVERY SINGLE cancer patient he has had in the past decade...has died. All this is from lack of medicines. He said...I only have medicines for one patient, and I have to play God and chose which patient will recieve the medication. The doctor took him to his office to show him ALL the medicines he had. All he had were a few small bottles, and 2 siringes...all in a small cabinet drawer. Biggest cause of death said the doctor...is young people simply giving up on life. The doctor started crying when he showed him the last medical journal Iraq had recieved...it was dated December 1990.

Some pictures were also shown which the VITW guy had personally taken. Many pictures of malnurished children, children with cancers and so forth. No comments were needed...there was not a dry eye in the room. Every single child on those photos had died. Also some pictures of the infamous shelter bombed by US planes. He talked about his meeting with a woman who survived the bomb...because she was at home making meals for her family...which was in the shelter at the time. They all died in the explosion.

He also visited an orphanege set up by Mother Teresa in Iraq (apparently...Saddam Hussein had called Mother Teresa to set up an orphanege in Iraq...so I guess Mother Teresa is also a criminel with ties to terrorism)

This man...before going into Iraq from Jordan...had stuffed his car with medicines which he gave to a hospital in Iraq. He was arrested twice in the US for violating the embargo. His story was very moving...

Another man talked at this event who had gone to Iraq as a human shiled. He did not make it inside Iraq before the war started. He was a teacher...who simply dropped everything the day the war started and went to Iraq. He didn't even tell his wife. He went to Egypt first. He rented a taxi to take him to Jordan. The taxi driver was a Palestinean and was very happy to see an American going to Iraq as a human shield. He slept in the taxi driver's house for a day and recieved a very warm welcome everywhere he went. He met a lot of people on his way to Jordan. The capitain of the ferry that got him accros the Suez was also Palestinean. Most of the people going to Jordan were going to Iraq...to fight against the Americans. He met many people going to Iraq as fighters, many who were going to Iraq to be with their families. Even though he was American...none of the people he met blamed him for anything. In fact they treated him just like he was one of them...they were all going to Iraq for the same reason. People had many opinions he siad...but not one person he met on his trip...not one...supported this war. not one person viewed the US as a liberator...but all viewed it as an imerialist power. Anyway...to make a long story short, he got to the Jordanian-Iraqi border...but of course was not allowed to pass. He waited there for a few days...and eventually returned home.