Illness Takes No Break for War

January 1, 2006

The United States’ various wars in Iraq have already seen the birth of one new disease, Gulf War Syndrome. GWS has been primarily identified in veterans from the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

Besides this sickness, there have been countless cases of what is now known as Depleted Uranium Sickness, an enormous rise in cancers, particularly in young children, as well as an explosion of other diseases.

Juwan is just one young girl among many sick Iraqi children who are failing to find treatment in Iraq today. Since the conclusion of the 1991 war and the initiation of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, illness was rampant due to the crushing sanctions imposed by the United Nations and backed primarily by the US.

Prior to the 1991 war, healthcare, literacy, employment, and many other measures of a country’s development were some of the finest in the world.

Today many are desperate to find effective and functional healthcare for their children. With the primary focus on re-establishing security and defending Iraq’s oil revenues, this goal seems far from reach.

For more stories about illness and healthcare in Iraq, see this story, from the children’s ward in Baghdad Hospital, or this interview with a family who’s child is living with the pain of Depleted Uranium sickness.