bmj.com Clark 325 (7373): 1134


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Collections under which this article
appears:Medical Consequences of
Conflict BMJ 2002;325:1134 ( 16 November )
News
War on Iraq could produce a humanitarian disaster, health professionals warn

Jocalyn Clark, BMJ

A report from Medacta UK
based organisation of health professionals that was set up to highlight the
health consequences of warwarns
that a new war on Iraq would produce a humanitarian disaster.
A war would lead to widespread damage to the environment, including oil
spills, toxic smoke, and chemical, biological, and possibly
radiological pollution. Emergency relief for displaced and sick
civilians would cost billions of pounds. Existing relief programmes,
such as the oil for food programme, have institutionalised a state of
crisis and have failed to provide proper access to food, education,
employment or health care.
The authors contend that a new war on Iraq would further destabilise the
Middle East and the global economy.
The report was launched this week simultaneously by the International
Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, to which Medact is
affiliated, and by organisations in the United States, Australia,
Canada, Germany, Guatemala, India, Japan, the Netherlands, and
the Philippines.
Drawing on evidence from international organisations, the report states that
the 1990-1 war was responsible for 200000 deaths among
military personnel, civilians, and refugees in Iraq. Up to
300000 Iraqi soldiers were wounded, some of whom later died or
had long term disability.
Air attacks and sanctions targeted Iraq's oil industry, crippling the
country's economy, which had been growing in the previous decades.
Roads, communications, electricity, water supply, sewage systems, and
healthcare facilities were severely damaged.
This damage severely limited water, food, and other resources. An estimated
1.8 million refugees fled to the borders, with disease and
malnutrition. The report states that women, children, and elderly
people were affected the worst. Some 47000 excess deaths in
children aged under 5 years occurred in January to August
1991 alone.
Medact proposes alternative strategies to war, including targeted sanctions
against the Iraqi elite, creation of a visible and accountable
containment system to restrict the arms trade, establishment of a
longer term and sustainable development plan, and an international
effort to foster democratic political processes in Iraq.

It recommends an allowance of time for Iraq to comply with international
pressure for disarmament.













 

(Credit: AP PHOTO/JASSIM
MOHAMMED)
Neighbours search for a family buried in
rubble after a 1999 attack on Jesan, near Baghdad, by US planes


Footnotes
Collateral Damage: The Health and Environmental Costs of War on Iraq
is available at  http://www.medact.org/



© BMJ
2002







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Collections under which this article
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