Iraq: Number of children dying higher than when the country was under sanctions

Suffer the Children
Number of children dying higher than when the country was under sanctions.
By Hind al-Safar in Baghdad (ICR No. 237)

Child mortality in Iraq has spiralled because of the tense security situation, deteriorating health services and lack of medical supplies, say experts.

According to a report released in May 2007 by aid agency Save the Children, “Iraq’s child mortality rate has increased by a staggering 150 per cent since 1990, more than any other country.”

The report, entitled State of the World’s Mothers 2007, said that some 122,000 Iraqi children - the equivalent of one in eight - died in 2005, before reaching their fifth birthday. More than half of the deaths were among newborn babies in their first month of life.

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“Since 2003, electricity shortages, insufficient clean water, deteriorating health services and soaring inflation have worsened already difficult living conditions.”

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“Conservative estimates place increases in infant mortality following the 2003 invasion of Iraq at 37 per cent,” it said.