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Sanctions were imposed on the people of Iraq in 1990. Iraqi people are still suffering, especially children. Infant mortality (IM) has increased more than five times. Previously it had decreased from 139 in 1960 to 20 in 1989, which was comparable to developed countries. In 1992 it went up to 111. 1 In 1999, a decade later, IM was still high at 104. 2 The Gulf War and trade sanctions caused a threefold increase in mortality amogn Iraqi children under 5 years of age. It has been estimated that more than 46 900 children died between January and August 1991. 3
The study of the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation, published in a letter to the BMJ in 1995, concluded that deaths of more than 560 000 children could be attributed to UN sanctions. It also stated that the death rate among children under 5 years in Baghdad had increased fivefold since the war ended in 1991. 4 Data for 1994-99 showed that mortality for children under 5 years was 131 per 1000 live births, compared with 56 for 1984-9, before sanctions. The reasons for excess deaths are clear-economic collapse with plummeting wages, soaring food prices, poor sanitation, lack of safe water, and inadequate provision of health care. 5
The rate of low birth weight (<2500 grams) which was in the region of 9% in the period 1980-88, increased to 21% in 1994. 1 The 1995 Baghdad nutrition survey of children under five years of age showed that the percentage of children below...