Iraq: 8,000 died because of embargo

Iraq: 8,000 died because of embargo

Updated 2:43 PM ET November 15, 1999

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 15 (UPI) - More than 8,000 Iraqis, most of them children, died in October of illnesses the government claims were caused by the continued embargo imposed on Iraq since its 1990 invasion of neighboring Kuwait.

Reports released by the Iraqi Ministry of Health indicated that 6,122 children under the age of 5 died during October because of diarrhea, malnutrition, pneumonia and respiratory complications.

The official Iraqi News Agency reports the government also counted 2, 918 elderly people who died last month of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer compared to 391 death cases registered in the same month of 1989.

That brings the number of Iraqis who died since the U.N.-imposed sanctions took effect to 1.2 million, the news agency said.

Iraq has repeatedly demanded the complete lifting of the embargo, saying it is causing the country's rising mortality rate because Iraq lacks much-needed medicines and medical equipment.

A UNICEF survey has recently warned of a "humanitarian emergency" in Iraq, stating the mortality rate for children under 5 increased through the 1990s from 56 deaths per 1,000 live births to 131 in government-controlled central and southern regions.

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