Child Malnutrition
Almost
Doubles After US Invasion
By Rick Kelly
26 November 2004
World
Socialist Website
A
study conducted by the Fafo Institute for Applied Social Science, a
Norwegian research group, found that acute malnutrition among Iraqi
children between the ages of six months and five years has increased
from 4 percent to 7.7 percent since the US-led invasion in March last
year.
Its
in the level of some African countries, Jon Pederson, the institutes
deputy managing director, told Associated Press. Of course, no
child should be malnourished, but when were getting to levels
of 7 to 8 percent, its a clear sign of concern.
The findings were
based on a survey conducted in April and May of 22,000 Iraqi homes.
The study, which is yet to be officially released, was assisted by Iraqs
central office for statistics and information technology, as well as
the United Nations Development Program.
Carol Bellamy, head
of UNICEF, the UNs childrens agency, condemned the war for
its impact on Iraqi children. War is waged by adults, but it is
the children who suffer the most. This protracted fighting and instability
is wreaking havoc on Iraqi children.
Approximately 400,000
Iraqi children now suffer from malnutrition. Affected children usually
have stunted physical growth, as well as irreparably retarded mental
development. The condition also leaves children vulnerable to other
diseases and infections, including pneumonia and gastroenteritis.
The condition of
Iraqi children stands as another indictment of the US occupation. The
war, compounding the devastating effects of the first Gulf War and the
subsequent sanctions regime, has devastated what was once a comparatively
advanced society and economy. As the Washington Post noted last Sunday,
the most pressing nutrition problem facing Iraqi youth a generation
ago was obesity.
Malnutrition only
became a serious problem in the aftermath of the Gulf War. With the
US leading a United Nations-backed embargo of many foods and medicines,
acute malnutrition in Iraqi children peaked at 11 percent in 1996. Only
with the introduction of the oil for food program did this
rate begin to decline. By 2002 it was down to 4 percent.
Child malnourishment
has again escalated under the occupation. The problem is bound up with
the general social and economic crisis that has wracked Iraq since the
invasion. Some 6.5 million Iraqis remain dependent on food rations.
The poorest Iraqis frequently trade these rations for desperately needed
medicine and clothing.
The Iraqi economy
has been shattered, with unemployment estimated to be as high as 60
or 70 percent. The widespread poverty makes it very difficult for millions
of families to afford adequate food for young children, or to purchase
nutritional supplements necessary for the treatment of the malnourished.
The Washington Post
reported on the situation in Baghdads main childrens hospital:
Things
have been worse for me since the war, said Kasim Said, a day laborer
[visiting] his ailing year-old son, Abdullah. The child, lying on a
pillow with a Winnie the Pooh washcloth to keep the flies off his head,
weighs just 11 pounds.
During
the previous regime, I used to work on the government projects. Now
there are no projects, his father said.
When he finds
work, he added, he can bring home $10 to $14 a day. If his wife is fortunate
enough to find a can of Isomil, the nutritional supplement that doctors
recommend, she pays $7 for it.
But
the lady in the next bed said she just paid $10, said Suad Ahmed,
who sat cross-legged on a bed in the same ward, trying to console her
skeletal four-month-old granddaughter, Hiba, who suffers from chronic
diarrhea.
An absence of consistent
electricity and clean water supply in many parts of Iraq has also contributed
to the massive increase in child malnutrition. The ongoing power shortages
make it difficult for many people to boil unsafe drinking water. Even
myself, I suffer from the quality of water, Zina Yahya, a nurse
in a Baghdad maternity hospital, declared. If you put it in a
glass, you can see its turbid. Ive heard of typhoid cases.
The Iraqi health
system has virtually collapsed. From August to October 2004, Iraqs
health care system regressed considerably, moving further away from
the tipping point, concluded a recent study conducted by the Center
for Strategic and International Studies. In fact, of all the sectors
reviewed for this report, health care had the most negative movement.
Iraqs health care system is currently incapable of providing adequate
basic health care to the majority of the population.
The health crisis
in Iraq underscores the cynicism of the Bush administrations claim
to have liberated Iraq. Of the $18.4 billion allocated by Congress last
year for Iraqi reconstruction, only $2 million has been spent on the
health system. Last month the State Department cut the projected budget
for repairing the electricity network by $1.1 billion, and water and
sanitation infrastructure by $1.9 billion in order to boost the resources
of the Iraqi police and military.