One of the most tragic consequences of the Iraq war has been its effect on children's health. It continues to claim children among its main victims, while the health of most the population carries on deteriorating.
In the 1980s, Iraq had one of the best health-care systems in the region. But the continuing cycle of insurgent violence and occupation forces' counter-attacks, since the 2003 invasion, have significantly damaged the basic health infrastructure. As a result, Iraq's health-care system cannot respond to people's most basic needs.
In 1991, there were 1,800 health-care centres in Iraq. A decade and a half later, that number has shrunk by almost half, and nearly one-third of these require major rehabilitation.
Before 1991, health care reached 97 per cent of the urban Iraqi population and 78 per cent of the rural population, according to the World Health Organisation. Electricity shortages, economic hardship, the exodus of qualified medical personnel, lack of transport and the collapse of the telecommunications system have significantly hindered the health-care system's capacity to function.
Jean Ziegler, the United Nations Human Rights Commission's special expert on the right to food, has said that the rate of malnutrition among Iraqi children has almost doubled since Saddam Hussein was ousted in April 2003. Today, at 7.7 per cent, the proportion of Iraqi children with acute malnutrition is roughly equal to that of Burundi, an African nation ravaged by more than a decade of war.
Youngsters' health problems in Iraq are dramatically different from those they faced a generation ago, when obesity was one of the main nutrition-related concerns. In addition, thousands of children born after the war have had none of their required vaccinations. Even the cheapest antibiotics are in short supply. Hospitals are overcrowded, and many go dark at night for lack of lighting fixtures.