War, Sanctions, and Humanitarian Assistance: The Case of Iraq 1990-1993
by Sarah Zaidi, ScD.
Medicine and Global Survival, Vol. 1, No. 3: p. 147-155. September 1994.
Abstract
The social and economic infrastructures of Iraq, including the capacity to provide health services, were severely damaged by the 1991 Gulf War, by international sanctions imposed on Iraq by the international community before, during, and after the war, and by internal political violence following the war. Field investigations conducted in August 1991 and November 1993 documented the impact of these three factors on child mortality and nutrition, health care services, environmental and agricultural damage, income and economic status, and other conditions of Iraqi life. The studies confirm an increase in infectious diseases due to inadequate water supplies and deteriorating water quality; malnutrition caused by a collapse in crop production combined with an inability to import sufficient food; a sharp increase in infant and child mortality immediately following the war, and severe impacts on the social and psychological well being of women and children. Specific sanctions against Iraq have created a tension between humanitarian objectives and the political goals of the United Nations with regard to Iraqi compliance with UN resolutions. Sanctions against Iraq, therefore, have exacerbated a public health crisis brought on by wartime destruction. [M&GS 1994;1:147-155]