Outbreak of “dangerous” diseases in Iraq due to pollution and climate change

POSTED ON[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] BY [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

[size=52]Outbreak of “dangerous” diseases in Iraq due to pollution and climate change[/size]

[size=45][You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Iraq is paying a heavy price for climate change, as water pollution and climate change threaten public health amid fears of more epidemics.[/size]
[size=45]The poorest residents of Iraq face an increasing health risk, in a country that is among the five countries in the world most affected by some of the repercussions of climate change. They are threatened by diseases such as leishmaniasis, chronic diarrhea, asthma caused by sandstorms, and cholera.[/size]
[size=45]“It’s a skin disease, Baghdad’s pimple,” says Tayba’s father, Najeh Farhan, 39, as he points to a rash on his youngest daughter’s face.[/size]
[size=45]“Baghdad Pimple” is the popular name for the skin disease Leishmaniasis, which is transmitted to humans through the bites of infected female phlebotomist sand flies.[/size]
[size=45]This father of seven children from the village of Al-Zawiya in Al-Diwaniyah Governorate adds, “Her second brother suffered from jaundice, and he cannot see with his eyes, and also a skin disease.”[/size]
[size=45]What makes matters worse is that “there is no health center near here and any services available to us,” Farhan said.[/size]
[size=45]In a report in mid-September, the World Health Organization considered that “difficulty in accessing appropriate medical care in remote areas” is one of the factors contributing to the exacerbation of leishmaniasis in Iraq.[/size]
[size=45]To compensate for the lack of health services in remote areas, the Iraqi Red Crescent launched a large campaign in June in 9 governorates in the center and south that are “most affected by climate change,” according to Haider Karim, a member of the Red Crescent’s administrative body.[/size]
[size=45]The campaign includes about 150 volunteers, more than 25 male and female doctors from the Ministry of Health, and five mobile hospitals in order to “provide health services” and “launch awareness campaigns about the dangers and diseases that are likely to affect families, such as skin diseases.”[/size]
[size=45]During the Red Crescent's tour in Diwaniyah, residents of the village of Al-Ayyash and other small nearby villages, including women, men and children, gathered near ambulances to receive medical consultations.[/size]
[size=45]In front of an ambulance with its door open, women dressed in traditional black clothing stood waiting for their turn to examine their children. From another car, Red Crescent volunteers took out boxes of medicine to distribute to residents.[/size]
[size=45]Pharmacist Raghda Ihsan, who participated in this campaign, noted that the majority of families “suffer from intestinal inflammatory diseases in a significant and significant way, as well as skin diseases and urinary tract infections.”[/size]
[size=45]She adds, “All these diseases are the result of change in the environment, global warming, and water pollution here, and because of the difficult living conditions in which they live and the deteriorating services.”[/size]
[size=45]In a country whose infrastructure is dilapidated after decades of wars and conflicts, and which is suffering from a drought for the fourth year in a row, water pollution is a real concern.[/size]
[size=45]Mac Skelton, a researcher in medical anthropology, said, “The decline in water levels is synonymous with an additional concentration of sewage and industrial pollutants in the water supply, at a level that the water treatment infrastructure in Iraq cannot adequately handle.”[/size]
[size=45]Skelton, director of the Institute for International and Regional Research at the American University in Sulaymaniyah in Iraq, added, “Polluted water is linked to a group of diseases, such as cholera, intestinal diseases, skin diseases, and diarrhea.”[/size]
[size=45]He believes that “it is necessary to improve the infrastructure for water treatment... and develop public health systems.”[/size]
[size=45]In mid-September, an official at the Ministry of Environment acknowledged that “Baghdad’s heavy sewage pipes discharge their waste directly into the Tigris River, turning it into a swamp.”[/size]
[size=45]Director of the Planning Department in the Baghdad Environment Department, Haider Youssef Mahmoud, added in an interview with the official Al-Sabah newspaper that sewage water is thrown into the river without treatment.[/size]
[size=45][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]