Gorilla’s Guides

BASRA, 31 May 2007 (IRIN) - Recent studies by medical colleges, and statistics from local morgues and hospitals, have shown a higher than expected number of cancer-related deaths in Iraq’s southern provinces. According to specialists, the main causes are the increased use of unsafe products in agriculture and the long-term effects of war on health.

Photo: Afif Sarhan/IRIN

Asif Muhammad is desperately looking for help for his daughter Maysoon, 7, who has cancer

Psychological stresses and strains engendered by years of conflict, violence, displacement and uncertainty have weakened people’s natural resistance to disease. This has been compounded by the lack of skilled medical staff and poor facilities and equipment.

“Lack of treatment for cancer patients and outdated radiotherapy and chemotherapy techniques have led to lower survival rates of patients. The shortage of oncologists, who have fled to neighbouring countries, has worsened the situation,” said Hussein Abdel-Kareem, an oncologist and senior official in the Basra Health Secretariat.

“Exposure to radiation from old cluster bombs, the high use of chemicals in agriculture as well as water contamination is having a serious impact on the health of local people, since these factors are important promoters of cancer related diseases. Many of the patients could have been treated but they died because of lack of facilities,” Abdel-Kareem added.

Study

According to a study entitled The Increase in Cancer Cases as Result of War Debris - published in early May by Basra University Medical College with input from researchers at the Ministry of Health - cancer-related diseases are now one of the main causes of a large percentage of deaths in the southern provinces.

“At least 45 percent of deaths in the southern provinces are caused by cancer. Some patients develop related diseases which worsen their condition, leading to a faster death. The statistics are having a serious impact on the health system and urgent funds are needed,” said Imad Hassan, a health specialist and member of the commission which produced the study.

“Southern governorates have been seriously affected by wars, especially in the past 20 years and it is a region in which chemicals and pesticides are used in fishing and agriculture,” Hassan said.

He added that in Basra, Muthana, Dhi Qar and Missan governorates, the drinking water has been found to be unsafe and in some places, especially in and near rural areas, the water was highly contaminated, including with pesticide residues.

Leukaemia, breast cancer

More cancer-related deaths among women and children have been found in Basra and Missan governorates, where leukaemia among children has increased substantially by 22 percent compared to 2005, and where a lot of women have developed breast cancer, with the figures showing an increase of 19 percent compared to 2005, the study said.

“Over the years the local population [in the south] has been exposed to the most serious radiation and chemical factors resulting from war, including the use of unsafe and cheap pesticides, and now we see the results,” Abdel-Kareem said.

A number of children - some say at least three per day - are born in hospitals in the southern provinces without limbs or without organs. The phenomenon, specialists say, is a result of years of war. “We have had cases of children who showed cancer-related diseases after only four weeks of life,” he added.

Specialists and the provincial heath secretary have called on the central government to provide funds to improve health services in the southern provinces.

“We need funds, new equipment and availability of medicines to try to save the lives of hundreds of innocent indirect victims of the war,” Abdel-Kareem said.

as/ar/cb

BAGHDAD, 31 May 2007 (IRIN) - Adeela Harith, a 39-year-old widow and mother of three, says she misses the days when her husband was daily bringing them food and when they used to sleep in a safe house in comfort. As a recently-widowed displaced person, she has no support and is now collecting left-overs from rubbish bins to feed her children.

Photo: Afif Sarhan/IRIN

Adeela Harith scavenges rubbish bins to feed her children

Adeela - who is the mother of Ahmed, 14, Zaineb, 12 and Yasser, 8, - said she had tried to get a job as a housekeeper but did not succeed as most families cannot afford maids or do not trust strangers in their homes. Without an education, she was left with no choice but to look for food in rubbish bins.

“I have to scrounge around rubbish bins to feed my children. They no longer attend school. The oldest two are street beggars and the youngest, Youssef, is with me looking for food in rubbish bins.

“Some people told me that the best way to survive was to find a temporary husband or maybe work as a sex worker to feed my children but I prefer to eat garbage than to lose my dignity.

“There are days when we don’t find enough and we have to sleep near an abandoned school in Baghdad, hungry. It is easy to get water but people do not give out food as before. When I had my own home, I tried to help anyone who came looking for food. But now I’m in their place and I have come to understand how the Iraqi people have changed and their hearts have become hard.

“My husband was killed by militants from the Mahdy Army [the Shia militia] in January 2007. He was a good man and didn’t deserve such a sad end. He was tortured and his body was mutilated. I don’t have parents. The only brother I had was killed a year ago and his wife is leading a similar life to mine.

“After my husband was killed, militants came to my home and threatened to kill everyone if we didn’t leave our house in 24 hours. I left without carrying anything. I tried looking for a place to stay in the outskirts but no one wants to give sanctuary to a widow with three children.

“A local NGO recently told me they will assist me but I am still waiting. Youssef has serious diarrhoea and two weeks ago Zaineb got sick from the food we ate. The doctors told us to stop eating food which we collect from rubbish bins but we don’t have a choice. Either we eat like this or we die of starvation.

“I will keep trying to find food for us in rubbish bins and with the money my children get in the streets by begging, we can buy some water and milk for them. I keep remembering how good the old days were when we had good food, good health and good living conditions but now our life is a disaster. And with the deteriorating situation in Iraq no one cares any more.”

as/ar/cb

BAGHDAD, 30 May 2007 (IRIN) - When Suha Abdel-Azim, 38, received a letter from her boss saying she had to stop working for security reasons, she couldn’t believe it. After three years as an engineer for a local company, she was fired without compensation.

Photo: Afif Sarhan/IRIN

Many Iraqi women say they are discriminated against

“I was shocked when they told me I was being fired. I was an excellent worker and had done many fantastic and profitable projects but they didn’t want a woman with them any more. They tried to explain, saying it was too dangerous for the company to employ women: the company had received threats,” Suha said.

“I tried to convince them that I could work from home. I have two children to bring up, and have been alone since my husband was killed by insurgents in 2004 for working for a foreign company, but in vain. They just sent me home,” she said.

Suha is now unemployed. She has been trying to find a job but as a woman she is finding it difficult.

“When they see my cv [curriculum vitae] they get excited but later they say they cannot employ me because I’m a woman and it could be too dangerous for them. Most of the local construction companies in Iraq now have only men working for them,” she said.

Unemployment affects children

“In about 14 percent of families in Iraq women are the main breadwinners, and often they care for a large number of children. The increase in unemployment among them just means more children without support,” said Sarah Muthulak, a spokeswoman for the Baghdad-based Women’s Rights Association (WRA).

“Discrimination against women today is unprecedented. They are being sacked because of their gender; that is unacceptable,” she added.

Women say they are being threatened for working outside their homes and in places which are mostly patronised by men.

“Insurgents and militias want us out of the work environment for many reasons: Some because they believe that women were born to stay at home - cooking and cleaning - and others because they say it is against Islam to share the same space with men who are not close relatives,” Nuha Salim, spokeswoman for the Baghdad-based NGO, Women’s Freedom, said.

Forced to divorce