Iraq

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Five years after the Baath's regime fall, and even if the security situation is improving since July 2007 the population of Iraq is still hit by the most complex and violent situation than ever. The steady escalation of violence achieves a fatality rate of 100 per day in early 2007 among the civilians, causing more than 2 million people to get refuge outside Iraq, and almost 2 millions to flee their home inside Iraq.
This humanitarian and protection crisis is reinforced by the lack or absence of basic services, loss of livelihood, increase of cost of living. The widespread violence and insecurity limited humanitarian relief to develop assistance to central and southern part of Iraq where the needs are the more acute. Despite the new security plan since February 07 in Baghdad, the political, agenda continues to raise tensions between communities.

In such context, reaching the most affected people to provide assistance has been a huge challenge for the whole humanitarian community, the crucial issue of accessing to beneficiaries within a highly insecure context requiring innovate and flexible remote management and operating processes.

DISABILITY SITUATION
Disabled people and their family living today in Iraq are in a very difficult situation. Their living conditions and access to services is different by region.

Overall, the cultural perception of disability tends to be negative and has strong impacts on families and social participation. Furthermore there is a clear lack of awareness and understanding of disability issues in Iraq. Even though disabled people's organisations are informed about their rights and the new UN convention, they are still lacking to understand it and have limited means to raise awareness and build their knowledge to change their situation.

Well trained Iraqi professionals working with disabled people have left the country for safety reasons; therefore there is a clear lack of trained professionals to ensure appropriate care of disabled people in Iraq. As a consequences, the health and social systems are not functioning properly and therefore care to disabled people as well as follow-up and care of people injured are not sufficient which clearly is a cause of worsening the situation for disabled people and a potential cause of disability for injured persons.

There is a high number of disabled people in Iraq which is increasing day by day through bombing and poor health care system. WHO in Amman reported that statistic from the emergency room in Iraq shows that 80% of the patients are admitted for injuries, among them 60% are war related, 10% are traffic accident and 10% are domestic accidents. It is well known that large number of these patients if not well followed up will develop complications which may lead to disability and impact their capacity to access assistance for themselves and their families.

Despite the fact that in Iraq, there are more than 12 rehabilitation centres including orthopaedic workshops, only few people benefit from these services as it is difficult to reach the centres for most of the people - either because of security reasons or because of lack of transportation means.

BACKGROUND
Immediately after the "official" end to the war in April 2003, Handicap International launched an exploratory mission to Baghdad and then Basra in order to identify the assistance that could be offered to the civilian population. Following hospital visits and meetings with NGOs already in the field, it became clear that the priority was working to prevent landmine and UXO accidents.

Between 26th April and 31st July, 50,000 posters were put up in hospitals, mosques and on the walls around Baghdad, and 200,000 leaflets were distributed. Information meetings were organized with imams and doctors working in hospitals and dispensaries.
In total, nearly 700 institutions were visited. The method used for carrying out this prevention work was based on the combined use of communication through drawings and photos and messages that were adapted to the local culture. At the same time, as of May 2003, a team of ten expatriate specialists began mine and bomb clearance work in the suburbs of Baghdad and Iraqis were trained in decontamination to maximise the impact of this essential work.

A training programme for Iraqi physiotherapists was set up in June 2003 to help the injured and Handicap International provided the Institute of Medical Technology in Baghdad, which had been pillaged, with equipment and prostheses that made it possible to fit 300 amputees.
Over time the security conditions deteriorated and our expatriate personnel were obliged to rethink how they carried out their interventions and to limit their presence in Iraq. The team has however kept up the essential activities by coordinating work carried out by our Iraqi colleagues from neighbouring Jordan.

RECENT & ONGOING ACTIVITIES

• KAP (Knowledge, Attitude, Practice) Survey on the Mine Risk Education programmes (Northern Iraq): evaluation of the actual impact of the MRE on the population
• Assistance to persons with injury/disability (PwI/D) and their families in Iraq: Provision of care, distribution of assistive devices, distribution of essential items for vulnerable Persons with Disabilities/Injuries
• Support to Physiotherapy department in Amman (partnership with MSF France): training to the team of physiotherapists in the surgery ward of the hospital dedicated to Iraqi persons

PARTNERS
Iraqi Health and Social Care Organisation (IHSCO)

TEAM
The team in Iraq is currently composed of 8 employees (3 expatriates and 5 local staff).

CONTACT
Tel: 00 964 750 739 1751
E-mail: ycornic@hi-me.org