April 24, 2008

BAGHDAD -- International humanitarian agency Church World Service (CWS) reports today that, in response to a continuing severe shortage of basic medical supplies at hospitals in Iraq's most violent cities, the agency has assisted in providing needed medical supplies to 19 hospitals in six governates throughout Iraq since December.

The most recent distributions have been targeted to Sadr City, with supplies delivered to Imam Ali Hospital on April 10 and to Sadr Hospital on April 15, after a recent curfew was lifted that had limited movements in the city for more than a week. Following an assessment of several primary health care centers in the city by Church World Service's partner on the ground, there will be further distribution of additional medical kits to three of those facilities as well in coming days.

40 medical kits were also delivered to Basra hospitals on April 2, and distributions reached two hospitals in Sadr City just before the curfew was imposed, according to Church World Service Middle East Regional Coordinator Steve Weaver.

CWS says supplies it has helped provide, based on needs assessments of the region's hospitals, range from surgical gloves bandages and umbilical clamps, to IV supplies, blood infusion sets and thoracic drainage equipment.

"From December through early March distributions were focused on Diyala and Kirkuk," Weaver says, "as they were the most violent areas at that time. Since March, the focus has been in the south, due to the violence in Basra, and in the Sadr City area of Baghdad." The aid effort also reached Karbala, Babylon and Wasit with needed supplies, he said.

"Given the circumstances, Iraq's Ministry of Health has been unable to supply sufficient quantities of medical supplies," says Weaver. "Hospitals in these volatile zones are without even the most basic medical supplies and are consuming what they have at a great rate."

"The problem," says Weaver, "is one of safe distribution and access as well as hospitals lacking financial resources to purchase supplies."

For its most recent provisions, CWS and their partner were able to purchase sufficient medical supplies within Iraq from a variety of international sources.

In addition to the continuing flow of people wounded directly or indirectly from the conflict, area hospitals and health care centers are dealing with increasing caseloads of illness due to poor water and sanitation facilities, displacement, and poor nutrition.

According to the United Nations, as of November 11, 2007, 45 districts in Iraq had reported laboratory confirmed cases of cholera. One in ten Iraqi children are said to be suffering from malnutrition. As of 2006, the country's infant mortality rate was estimated at 35 per 1,000 live births, and maternal deaths were reported at 192 per 100,000 live births. *1

"This phase of Church World Service's emergency medical supplies project ends in May," says Weaver. "But we anticipate that the same level of need for medical supplies will continue." CWS hopes to find funding to support ongoing provisions.

Through its Immigration and Refugee Program, Church World Service is also assisting Iraqi refugees being resettled in the U.S. and has played a key role in influencing U.S. policy towards Iraqi refugees.

CWS had provided relief and medical assistance to the people of Iraq for more than a decade before the current war, with special focus on children. Since the U.S. invasion of the country, the agency has continued to provide material aid, social, economic and health service projects for Iraqis affected by the war, including psychosocial programs for children and capacity building assistance to local Iraqi development organizations. The New York-based interfaith NGO was lead agency in the All Our Children campaign, which raised more than $1 million from private donors in the U.S.

Church World Service opposed the U.S.'s invasion of Iraq and refused to serve as an embedded relief agency with U.S. armed forces or to accept U.S. government funding for relief work following the invasion.

Providing emergency relief, human rights advocacy, sustainable development and refugee protection assistance worldwide, Church World Service is funded by public donations and grants and is supported in part by 35 member Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox denominations in the United States.

Contributions to support CWS responses in Iraq may be made online; by phone at (800) 297-1516; or by mail to Church World Service, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN, 46515. Please reference CWS Appeal #6823.

*1 Source: United Nations, "Humanitarian Crisis in Iraq - Facts and Figures,"

http://www.uniraq.org/documents/Humanitarian%20Crisis%20in%20Iraq%20Facts%20and%20Figures%20131107.pdf

Media Contact: Lesley Crosson, CWS/New York, 212-870-2676; lcrosson@churchworldservice.org Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526; jdragin@gis.net