PHA-Exch> Millions of Iraqis lack water, healthcare-Red Cross -- FIVE YEARS AFTER THE US LED INVASION....

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: UNNIKRISHNAN PV unnikru at yahoo.com

Millions of Iraqis lack water, healthcare-Red Cross:

Highlights: (full report :
http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/iraq-report-170308/$file/ICRC-Iraq-report-0308-eng.pdf)

·        Iraq's health care system as "now in worse shape than ever."
·        Many children, women, and elderly and disabled people, remained
extremely vulnerable.
·        At least a third of their average $150 monthly income buying clean
drinking water.
·        Iraqi hospitals lack beds, drugs, and medical staff.
·        humanitarian situation in most of the country remains among the
most critical in the world




GENEVA, March 17 (Reuters) - Five years after the United States led an
invasion of Iraq, millions of people there are still deprived of clean water
and medical care, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said
on Monday.

In a sober report marking the anniversary of the 2003 start of the war,
which ousted dictator Saddam Hussein and unleashed deep sectarian tensions,
the humanitarian body said Iraqi hospitals lack beds, drugs, and medical
staff.

Some areas of the country of 27 million people have no functioning water and
sanitation facilities, and the poor public water supply has forced some
families to use at least a third of their average $150 monthly income buying
clean drinking water.

"Five years after the outbreak of the war in Iraq, the humanitarian
situation in most of the country remains among the most critical in the
world," the ICRC said, describing Iraq's health care system as "now in worse
shape than ever."

The Swiss-based agency is mandated to help victims of war and monitor
compliance to international rules of war, enshrined in the Geneva
Conventions.

Its report said tens of thousands of Iraqis have disappeared since the start
of the war. The conflict was grounded in faulty U.S. intelligence suggesting
Saddam was hiding weapons of mass destruction. No such arsenal was ever
found.

"Many of those killed in the current violence have never been properly
identified, because only a small percentage of the bodies have been turned
over to Iraqi government institutions such as the Medical-Legal Institute in
Baghdad," it said.

MATCHING DNA SAMPLES

The ICRC is providing forensic equipment to medical and legal institutes
enabling them to examine DNA samples and match them with those of families
searching for their loved ones.

Iraqi violence rates have fallen 60 percent since last June, but the U.S.
military commander there, General David Petraeus, says the security gains
are fragile and easily reversed.

Declining civilian casualties have been hailed by Iraqi and U.S. military
officials as proof that new counter-insurgency tactics adopted last year
have been working.

But Beatrice Megevand Roggo, the ICRC's head of operations for the Middle
East and Africa, said those who have fled their homes to escape violence in
Iraq, including many children, women, and elderly and disabled people,
remained extremely vulnerable.

"Better security in some parts of Iraq must not distract attention from the
continuing plight of millions of people who have essentially been left to
their own devices," she said.

Tens of thousands of Iraqis -- nearly all men -- are in detention, according
to the ICRC. They include 20,000 inmates at at the country's largest
detention facility at Camp Bucca in the south near Basra, which is run by
U.S.-led multinational forces.

The ICRC regularly visits people held by the multinational forces in Iraq,
the Kurdish regional government and the Iraqi justice ministry -- altogether
some 5,000 detainees last year.

It is still seeking a comprehensive agreement for access to all prisoners
held by Iraqi authorities.
Iraq is the ICRC's largest operation worldwide with an annual budget of 107
million Swiss francs ($106 million). It deploys 600 staff in the country,
including 72 expatriates. (Editing by Laura MacInnis and Jon Boyle)
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