A complete breakdown in Baghdad's health system has left officials unable to monitor or control infectious diseases in the city. Loss of power to the health ministry's computer network and a lack of water in the city's laboratories has made the early detection of epidemics almost impossible.
Ali Khogali, from the World Health Organization's regional office in Alexandria, said last week that a joint WHO-UNICEF mission to Iraq estimated a fourfold rise in cases of diarrhoea in Baghdad. He was speaking from New York at a meeting at the UN headquarters. 'We have seen this from the facilities we have visited and also in interviews with mothers,' said Khogali.
The health ministry was 'indirectly affected' by coalition bombing, so it now operates from several separate buildings, said Khogali. There are no telephone links. 'Iraq had a good service before and all the information was computerised. Now with the power cuts ...
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