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Activities 2007
Four years into the conflict in Iraq, the gap between emergency medical needs and the capacity of the country's medical infrastructure persists. Bombings and lesser reported sectarian violence result in devastating injuries requiring immediate and intensive medical attention, yet skills and supplies in many areas are limited. The economy has collapsed and approximately 50 per cent of Iraqi doctors have fled the country. The high level of insecurity and ongoing violence make it incredibly difficult for people to receive medical care. Others may receive limited and insufficient care, leading to life-threatening complications. Unable to run direct medical programmes with a permanent presence of staff in violence-affected areas, MSF has sought viable ways to provide assistance to Iraqis within and outside the country.
In the Kurdistan area, MSF delivers surgical assistance and psychological support at hospitals in Dohuk, Erbil and Sulemaniyah. One of the most common medical problems is skin burns caused by domestic accidents, failed suicide attempts or explosions. In Erbil, over a hundred operations were carried out every month during 2007, about half of which were war-related. In July 2007, MSF opened a programme in Sulemaniyah to care for burn patients and provide orthopaedic surgery. By December, 738 patients had been treated, many for severe burns. The adjacent provinces of Tameem and Ninevah experienced an upsurge of violence in 2007. MSF is evaluating the situation of displaced people and providing basic humanitarian assistance, particularly in the governate of Dohuk, where some 1,000 families received support during the harsh winter.
A burn victim is treated in a MSF-equipped hospital. Iraq, 2008.
Valerie Babize/MSF
An MSF team based in Amman, Jordan has begun offering limited support to five Iraqi hospitals in zones severely affected by the violence. This involves providing essential medical supplies, including anaesthetics, painkillers and surgical equipment. The project treated 281 patients in 2007, but its potential capacity is limited by administrative obstacles and impositions on bringing patients to Jordan from Iraq. At the end of the year, MSF launched a reconstructive surgery project in Mehran, Iran. The objective is to care for patients from the eastern provinces and south of Baghdad.
Security issues make Iraq an exceedingly difficult context for independent humanitarian interventions. The blurring of roles played by the US-led coalition and UN system demand a reaffirmation of MSF's strictly impartial and humanitarian character and an insistence on the need to preserve, defend and protect the integrity of humanitarian action from political and military objectives. MSF struggles to reassert and gain recognition for its identity as an independent humanitarian organisation, separate from any political, commercial, religious or personal interests. In November 2007, MSF reinforced dialogue with all key stakeholders and warring factions to secure the space in which to carry out its work.
MSF has worked in the current Iraqi conflict since 2006.