WHO: New figures on the disintegrating health situation in Iraq where 100 people a day die

[Jcrowley]

Tomgram: Dahr Jamail, Into the Iraqi Diaspora

Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) released new figures on the disintegrating health situation in Iraq where, according to the group, 100 people a day die, on average, and countless more are wounded. Of the injured who manage to make it to an emergency room, 70% face a chance of dying there. Many don't reach clinics or emergency rooms at all, given the horrendous security conditions in the country. (Most knowledgeable observers believe that all death counts are low-ball numbers, given the increasing problem of gathering accurate figures amid the mayhem.)

In Iraqi hospitals, drugs and equipment are increasingly scarce, while ever more health professionals have joined the general exodus from the country. "The daily violence coupled with the difficult living and working conditions," reports WHO, "are pushing hundreds of experienced health staff to leave."

Here are a few other bits of information from the WHO report, according to Elisabeth Rosenthal of the New York Times:

"80% of Iraqis lack access to sanitation, 70% lack regular access to clean water and 60% lack access to the public food distribution system… As a result of these multiple public health failings, diarrhea and respiratory infections now account for two-thirds of the deaths of children under 5… According to a 2006 national survey conducted by UNICEF, 21% of Iraqi children are chronically malnourished."

And then there's the poorly covered refugee crisis -- probably the worst on the planet at this moment -- gripping the country. Almost 4 million Iraqis have had to leave their homes, according to Refugees International. But don't just rely on some impartial NGO for your information. Here's a ball-park estimate quoted recently in an interview with David Petraeus, the general in charge of the President's "surge plan" in Iraq:

"'It's a big competition right now among a variety of groups; and, again in an environment, in Baghdad in particular, very heavily colored by an influence of the sectarian violence.' Neighborhoods have been depopulated and General Petraeus believes that ‘hundreds of thousands, maybe millions' of Iraqis have been displaced."

http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=188872

[agincourt]

1. They may very well be worse,

under Bush/Cheney/Rove, than they were under sanctions. That's mind boggling.

[MadMaddie]

2. There is absolutely no doubt about it. that Iraqi's are in worse

shape than they were under Sadam

And this is why these are "Crimes against Humanity" and the * cabal must be prosecuted.

[Jcrowley]

6. It is far worse n/t

[mrcheerful]

3. So is the shrub going to admit that Iraq is a bloodbath now?

Or is shrub going to keep saying that if we leave then the bloodbath starts? Guess which one I think the moron in cheif is going to say.

[Forkboy]

4. K&R

*sigh*

[uppityperson]

5. k&r with a heavy heart

[OneBlueSky]

7. what BushCo has done to that country is unforgiveable . . .

both war crimes and crimes against humanity apply in spades . . . will they ever be brought to justice for their crimes? . . . I doubt it . . .