WASHINGTON, DC -- As part of the U.S. government's overall reconstruction assistance in Iraq, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has developed a comprehensive health care program to help maintain stability, ensure the delivery of essential services, and facilitate economic recovery.
Many Iraqis, especially women and children, are extremely vulnerable and are at great risk for disease and infection. By 2003, almost one-third of the children in the south and center of the country suffered from malnutrition. Low breastfeeding rates, high rates of female anemia, low birth weights, diarrheal disease, and acute respiratory infections all contribute to a high child mortality rate. Life expectancy at birth is 58 years, which is low in comparison to the average for least developed countries of 65 years.
Emergency relief activities related to health in Iraq were supported by USAID through awards to organizations such as CARE, International Medical Corps, International Rescue Committee, GOAL, Mercy Corps, Save the Children, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and World Vision. To assist in revitalizing the health care system that had suffered from neglect over the past decade, USAID has awarded a contract to Abt Associates, Inc. and grants to UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO). These partners will facilitate the rapid, restoration of health services to the Iraqi population and strengthen the overall health system to ensure medium- to long-term viability in the country. Specific activities will include:
- Raising basic health care standards;
- Providing maternal and child health
care to the majority of the population;
- Strengthening nutritional programs for
malnourished populations, especially women and children to include promotion
of breastfeeding;
- Rehabilitating health clinics, hospitals,
and laboratories, including provision of equipment and training of staff;
- Reestablishing disease surveillance,
especially for infectious diseases such as cholera;
- Reestablishing the distribution system
for medicines;
- Improving health knowledge by assessing
current beliefs and practices and implementing appropriate behavior change
intervention; and
- Assisting the Ministry of Health with policy, regulatory, planning, and budgetary processes.
Program successes to date include:
- Provided 22.3 million doses of measles,
tuberculosis, hepatitis B, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, and polio
vaccines, enough to treat 4.2 million children and 700,000 pregnant women;
- Reestablished routine immunizations
for children, conducted a social mobilization campaign via television and
printed material to inform communities about the restarting of routine
immunization and conducted two National Immunization Days (June 22 and
July 22);
- Established a surveillance system to
monitor for any cholera outbreaks;
- Prepared and distributed public service
announcements about hand washing, diarrheal disease and breastfeeding;
- Awarded a grant to the Nurses and Doctors
Professional Care Organization (an Iraqi NGO) to assist in start-up sponsorship
of the Iraqi Nurses' Association (INA) National Conference (July 15-16),
purchase of nurses' uniforms and equipment for Yarmouk Hospital (Baghdad),
and support to the INA;
- Conducted needs assessment of 168 hospitals
and referral centers and 82 primary health care centers;
- Rehabilitated ten delivery rooms in
hospitals and primary health care centers serving 30,000 in Basrah;
- Provided essential drugs and medical
supplies, in conjunction with Save the Children, to two obstetric, gynecological,
and pediatric hospitals in Mosul; and
- Restored four looted health clinics in Kirkuk and returned them to operating status.
The U.S. government and the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) will continue to work with Abt Associates, UNICEF and WHO, as well as other organizations, such as donors, international organizations, and NGOs to rehabilitate the overall health system in Iraq.