UNICEF Humanitarian Action: Iraq

Donor Update 29 May 2002

URGENT NEEDS IN HEALTH, EDUCATION AND WATER/SANITATION

• One in eight Iraqi children die before fifth birthday.
• One in three Iraqi children suffer from chronic malnutrition.
• The average child under five suffers 14 episodes of diarrhea each year.
• One third of all children do not attend school.
• A quarter of all children work to supplement family income.
• Decline in water and sanitation facilities is of serious concern.

EMERGENCY OVERVIEW AND RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

Iraq has been in the grip of a prolonged and intense humanitarian emergency since the mid-1980s during the Iran - Iraq war when social investments started to decline. The sanctions introduced by the United Nations after the Gulf war in 1990 have had a particularly drastic humanitarian effect despite some improvement since the Oil for Food Programme (OFFP) initiated at the end of 1996. Surveys carried out by UNICEF during 2001 show that almost one-third of children in the south and centre of Iraq suffer from chronic malnutrition.

Other issues of concern in the health sector include low exclusive breast feeding rates, high bottle feeding rates, and high prevalence of anemia among women, high incidence of low birth weight contribute to Iraq's very high child mortality rates - 131 per 1000 live births in the south and centre of Iraq (1999) - a rate comparable to that of Pakistan or Haiti. Diarrhea leading to death from dehydration and acute respiratory infection (ARI), together account for 70 per cent of child deaths.

For more information on this emergency, see http://www.reliefweb.int