Attachments
OVERALL PROGRESS
Context
Despite the end of hostilities in Iraq in 2017, nearly after 40 years, Iraq continues to face challenges pertaining to its economic situation, post-conflict recovery, its health services, climate and environment, and in its security. In 2019, widespread anti-government protests occurred as a result of high unemployment and weak provision of government basic service delivery, compounded by long-standing tensions. Due to the years of armed conflict and instability, the health sector in Iraq faces acute challenges and the severity of need has worsened overall. The people most in need of such assistance continue to be those directly affected by the conflicts and recently affected by the global pandemic comprising of internally displaced persons (IDPs), refugees, returnees and host communities. More than 2.5 million people in Iraq are in need of humanitarian assistance, including over one million IDPs. People in need are present in nearly all of Iraq’s 18 governorates, but vulnerabilities continue to highest in the conflict-affected governorates of north and central Iraq. While the conclusion of large-scale military operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) enabled displaced people to return home, a large section of people continues to remain in protracted displacement, faced with acute vulnerabilities.
The deterioration of Iraq’s health services has also driven by the migration of many of its skilled healthcare workers out of the country. While National development plan call for a realignment of the health system with primary healthcare as the basis, the healthcare system continues to remain centralized and focused on hospitals. The COVID-19 pandemic caused considerable disruptions for the provision of health services, with shortages in drugs and other essential supplies coupled with the absence of trained healthcare personnel leading to the deterioration of an already-weakened healthcare system. The pandemic exacerbated pre-existing vulnerabilities among conflict-affected populations, resulting in the increased use of negative coping mechanisms. The Ministry of Health and Environment, with support from the Iraq Health Cluster has continued efforts to improve routine healthcare, public health functions and health system development. Additionally, due to the conflict and the pandemic, people’s ability to recover economically and overcome the crisis through resilience has been affected, particularly as these concerned access to food, safe drinking water, protection, education, hygiene and shelter. The significant slowdown of all the world economies, and especially the economies of the most vulnerable ones will make Iraq, which is a food import-dependent country, struggle to have the needed resources to buy food. Legal and community-based support is still scarce. Health care, education, and water and sanitation services, which were already lacking prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, are still inadequate in the aftermath of the pandemic.
Iraq faces a unique set of environmental challenges, the impacts of changing weather patterns have already been felt in recent years, with increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events and rising environmental degradation throughout the country. As demographic growth puts further strain on natural resources that are becoming increasingly scarce, the government’s capacity to devise and implement the necessary adaptation and mitigation policies is hampered by a daunting context of post-conflict reconstruction. The water crisis in the country is expected to persist and may have humanitarian, economic, security, and social ramifications, including population movements.
The most serious long-term threat to the country, however, is the potential economic impact and environmental devastation caused by climate change. Drought has been a severe recurring phenomenon in Iraq over the last two decades due to climate change, although Iraq has historically been one of the most water-rich countries in the Middle East. Along with these challenges, Iraq still remains one of the most high-risk countries according to the INFORM index due to the growing likelihood of conflict in the region. Political situation in Iraq remains unstable, destabilized by pervasive corruption, and the overall security situation continues to pose major challenges.