Iraq Health Statistics

Children's Health

• 4,500 preschoolers, toddlers and infants (aka "children under 5") die each month because of the scarcity of food and medicine. UNICEF Oct 96
• The Infant Mortality Rate rose 100%, or doubled, from 1991 to 1995. FAO 95, WHO 96
• The Under 5 Mortality Rate rose 5 times from 1991 to 1996. FAO 96
• In 1989 there were 27,334 deaths of children under 5 in Iraq. In 1996 there were 140,231, an increase of 500%. Dr Bushra Al-Rubeyi, British pediatrician
• The Under 5 Mortaility Rate rose 6 times from 1991 to 1996. WHO 96 "This increase is a result of two synergistic factors -- poor nutrition and increased pevalence of disease -- compounded by inadequate health services." CESR (Center for Economic and Social Rights, formerly the Harvard Study Team) May 96
• One-third (32%) of children under 5 are chronically malnourished (in Central and Southern Iraq); that is 960,000. This represents a rise of 72% since 1991. UNICEF Nov 97
• "Almost 1/4 (23%) of children under 5 are underweight." UNICEF Nov 97
• 12% of children under 5 in Baghdad are 'wasting' (emaciated to the point of requiring urgent care). This represents a tripling from 1991 to 1995. UN's FAO & NRI 1995 (FAO=Food & Agriculture Organization of the UN)
• The monthly average of marasmus and kwashiorkor (advanced malnutrition) are up 50 times from 1991 to 1996." WHO 3/96
• "By Semptermber 1994 the volume of the food basket ... (provided) 1,770 calories per day per person. This represented 70% of the energy required." UNICEF 10/94
• "After a child reaches two or three years of age, chronic malnutrition is difficult to reverse and damage on the child's development is likely to be permanent." UNICEF and WFP (World Food Program) 5/97
• "The majority of the population is on a semi-starvation diet." WHO 3/96 (World Health Organization)
• "There has been irreversable physical and mental damage from malnutrition." FAO 95
• "Most (hospital) incubators are not working due to the lack of spare parts." CESR 1996 (Center for Economic and Social Responsibility, formerly the Harvard Study Team)
• "The long-term effect, in the view of UN humanitarian aid experts, is likely to be an entire generation of Iraqi children stunted in their physical and mental development." Chicago Tribune 3/24/98
• "There has been a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases including polio, diphtheria and measles." UNICEF 4/93 "Children, War, and Sanctions" report
• Increase in preventable infections such as diarrhea, pneumonia, whooping cough, typoid. Many Iraqis are now dying from diseases that were easily treated prior to sanctions." CESR 96
• There was a 90% drop in the importation of drugs, from $360million annually pre-sanctions to an estimated $33 million in 1996 ($13 purchased from Jordan and an anticipated $20 million in donations).
• "Sanitation has become a common problem in schools that now have 2-3 shifts a day leading to facilitated transmission of water-borne disease among the primary age school children." UNICEF 4/93
• "Severe and moderate malnutrition among children on the age group 0-12 months were 9.2%, an increase from the previous years." UNICEF Oct 94
• "Mild to moderate cases of malnutrition may enter the stages of chronicity where stunting would be noticeable. Nutritional deficiency may affect the growing brain of young children, resulting in deterioration of the intelligence of the growing population. UNICEF Oct 94
• Iraqi school buildings are falling apart, and there is no money for school books or other materials. So a generation of Iraqi children faces the threat of growing up with adequate education." Chicago Tribute, 3/24/98
• "A side effect (of sanctions) ...is the...intellectual isolation in the scienfic and medical community. This is due, in part, to the non-availability of journals, periodicals, and textbooks." FAO 93
• Sanctions prohibit: textbooks, paper, pencils, pens, ink, chairs, desks.