Iraqis living in the Southern Governorate of Thi Qar have suffered political, social, and environmental misery for decades. Despite the fact that Saddam’s regime has fallen, years of war, loss and sanctions are painfully lingering amongst the mainly Shia population of Southern Iraq. Public health indicators have been in dangerous decline for years—and a post war Iraq has intensified the decaying health services, water quality, and quality of life of Iraqis across this fragile country. Hospitals, clinics, and orphanages were looted and left in ruin as the former regime fell.
International Medical Corps has stepped into the post war chaos as a leading NGO to alleviate suffering amidst these disintegrating health systems. Working with a team of Iraqi nurses, doctors, and engineers, International Medical Corps staff are committed to resurrecting the health infrastructures and implementing public health and water and sanitation programs to curb the high incidence of diarrhoea and other waterborne diseases.
International Medical Corps has been particularly active in Nasariyah, a city in Thi Qar, rehabilitating the General and Maternal Child Hospitals. In these facilities, water and sanitation is so poor that patients are vulnerable to infectious diseases while receiving care in the hospital. Open manholes exposing raw sewage festering with flies are strewn throughout the hospital—as mothers holding their babies sit on hard floors waiting for overworked doctors to attend to their children. International Medical Corps is currently renovating the entire water and sanitation systems in the hospital, as well as providing intensive training programs for nurses and doctors.
With the cholera season in full swing, coupled with the lack of potable drinking water, and deteriorating health systems—agricultural villages outside of Nasiriyah are particularly at risk for infectious diseases. In Chibayish alone there are 250 reported cases of gastrointestinal infections per month. Clinics in these remote villages are filled daily with sick mothers and children—and the situation is getting worse.
The region has experienced major upheaval. The internally displaced Marsh Arabs were forced off of their lands– where they had been for centuries—when the former regime chastised them by draining the marshes. Proud people who once worked their ancestral lands with complete self-sufficiency were forced to flee, becoming migrant workers and cheap labourers across Iraq. Since the war’s end, over 3,000 Marsh Arabs have returned home—and thousands more are expected. Yet these families who have been living in poverty for a decade are returning to little or no infrastructure of any kind, and scant opportunity for work. They have no access to potable water and the health clinics in the villages are already struggling to meet the high incidents of typhoid, dysentery, and skin lesions that are plaguing the local population.
Currently, International Medical Corps is supporting 33 clinics throughout the Thi Qar governorate, including remote village clinics. Furniture, medical equipment, and medical training will enable these clinics to hire local health care workers to aid their population. International Medical Corps is particularly focused on providing maternal and child health care in hopes of curbing the high infant mortality rate of 98 deaths per 1000 live births and 133 deaths per 1000 live births in the under five category. (WHO, 2001).
One of the key issues at hand is fresh water—particularly as these remote villages are surrounded by salty marshes with no access to potable water. International Medical Corps is currently involved in feasibility studies regarding this public health crisis—with the knowledge that the current situation will only be dangerously exacerbated as thousands more Marsh Arabs come back to their lands.
Medina, a mother of 10 children who left Chibayish in 1992, has returned home and is trying to survive on dusty, cracked earth devoid of any fresh water. She brought her family back when the war ended, overjoyed by the news that the marshes were slowly but surely recovering. Her plot of land is now in crumbles, along with the school building up the highway. As the beginnings of a dust storm stir on the horizon—International Medical Corps asked Medina what brought her back to this land when there was no appearance of marshes yet in what used to be her village. Medina’s eyes shone as she said “God is bringing back the marshes and life to our land. The marshes will come and we will survive, we are home.”
Despite her optimism, life is very difficult for those who have returned, and the only water available comes from a small pipe that is connected to Chibayish. Abdul Salaam, head of the Chibayish water department, explained the dire public health risks of a weakened population with contaminated water being unable to safely accommodate the anticipated return of thousands of Marsh Arabs.
“We are so amazed by the returning marshes and welcome the return of our Arab brothers, but we are afraid of the sickness that may come due to our few resources,” he explained to International Medical Corps.
As International Medical Corps staff and Abdul Salaam’s family rested from a day of intense heat—his small son started crying. His father gently gathered Abbas, age 2 and a half, into his arms and began comforting him.
When asked what was wrong with his son, Abdul Salaam, head of the water department, looked down sadly. “I’m sorry. He is just upset…he has typhoid and has not been feeling well these past few weeks.”
As the weight of that admission took hold upon International Medical Corps water and sanitation engineer Will Carter and MCH specialist Anja Paajanen, Abdul Salaam quickly turned the conversation back to work.
“We have so much work to do for our people…we must prepare for at least 10 families that will be returning home this week,” he stated with optimism.
The return of the marshes and Marsh Arabs is bringing hope and inspiration to the entire population of Thi Qar—yet the existing population is suffering from poor public health conditions and infectious disease. International Medical Corps is dedicated to alleviating the suffering of Iraqis through its public health and water and sanitation programs throughout Iraq. The Thi Qar program is proving a great success and is welcomed by the local population—as International Medical Corps health programs improve conditions daily throughout the governorate.