Shortage of safe water risks cholera in Iraq -U.N.
22 Mar 2007 18:35:13 GMT22 Mar 2007 Source: Reuters
By Suleiman al-Khalidi
AMMAN, March 22 (Reuters) - United Nations agencies working in Iraq warned on Thursday a chronic shortage of safe drinking water risks causing more child deaths and an outbreak of waterborne disease such as cholera during the summer.
Four years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, millions of Iraqi children still find that safe water is no easier to access, said a statement issued by leading U.N. aid agencies operating in Iraq.
The agencies, whose offices are based in Amman, issued the statement to mark World Water Day.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said shortages of drinking water threatened to push up diarrhoea rates, particularly among children. Diarrhoea is already the second highest cause of child illness and death in Iraq, it said.
"Latest reports suggest we are already seeing an increase in diarrhoea, even before the usual onset of the diarrhoea season in June," said Roger Wright, UNICEF representative in Iraq.
Efforts to repair Iraq's damaged water networks have been hampered by electricity shortages, attacks on technicians, infrastructure and engineering works and underinvestment in the water sector, the agencies said.
Iraq was still relying on U.N. support to provide essential water treatment chemicals with UNICEF alone providing 1,650 tonnes of chlorine last year, the statement said.
The suspension of water tankering services to tens of thousands of people in Baghdad, especially to displaced families and communities hosting them, increased the risk of cholera outbreaks, the agencies warned.
"Under the circumstances, Iraq has done extremely well to keep outbreaks of waterborne diseases, especially cholera, largely at bay so far. But this achievement is at risk unless more reliable sources of safe water reach families as soon as possible," the joint statement said.
No cholera cases were reported last year and the incidence of typhoid also decreased, according to WHO data.
The U.N. bodies said the need for aid was expected to rise in 2007 with the worsening humanitarian plight from raging sectarian violence and insurgent attacks.
They estimated that children and women account for nearly 70 percent of the over 712,000 Iraqis who were internally displaced last year after the bombing of a major Shi'ite shrine in February 2006 triggered a surge in sectarian violence.
Unicef appeal for Iraqi children
BBC: Wednesday, 23 May 2007, 06:26 GMT 07:26 UKIraqi children are getting caught up in a growing humanitarian tragedy as violence continues in the country, the UN Children's Fund (Unicef) has warned.Half of the four million Iraqis who have fled their homes since the conflict began are children.
حذرت منظمة الامم المتحدة للطفولة (يونيسف) من أن أطفال العراق باتوا في قلب مأساة إنسانية مع استمرار دوامة العنف في البلاد.وكشفت المنظمة عن أن نصف عدد الملايين الاربعة من العراقيين الذين نزحوا من ديارهم منذ غزو العراق هم من الاطفال.وأوضحت المنظمة أن احتياجات الاطفال تفوق المساعدات الدولية المقدمة.ولذا فإن هناك حاجة لمزيد من الاموال، بحسب المنظمة التي طالبت في مناشدتها الجديدة بتقديم 42 مليون دولار خلال الاشهر الستة المقبلة.وأضافت يونيسف أن "العنف يتسبب في تزايد أعداد الارامل والايتام بشكل يومي، يكافح الكثيرون منهم من أجل مجرد البقاء دون عون".وقالت المنظمة "إن أطفال العراق، الذين هم بالفعل ضحايا لربع قرن من الصراع والحرمان، باتوا في قلب مأساة إنسانية تشهد تدهورا متسارعا". "تأثير هائل"وصرحت كلير حجاج، المسؤولة في يونيسف في منطقة الشرق الاوسط، لـ بي بي سي بأن وضع أطفال العراق وصل بالفعل إلى مستوى الازمة.وأضافت "لسنا ننتظر حتى يزيد الوضع سوءا، أو لنحذر من احتمال تدهوره، إن الوضع سيء بالفعل".وأوضحت حجاج أن أطفال العراق "بحاجة إلى مساعدات إنسانية أساسية، وكذلك الاشخاص الذين يساعدون هذه الاسر المشردة داخل الاحياء، وخاصة داخل العراق، بحاجة إلى مساعدة أيضا".وقالت يونيسف إنها تريد استخدام هذه الاموال في تقديم اللقاحات الدوائية، والاغذية والمياه النظيفة والتعليم للاطفال في العراق.
يونيسف تناشد العالم لمساعدة أطفال العراق
