wfn.org | CWS Sends $1.2 Million in Medical Supplies to Iraq

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

Church World Service
For Immediate Release

July 1, 2003, New York - The global humanitarian agency Church World Service
this week is shipping $1.2 million in donated medical supplies to Iraq,
reports CWS Executive Director the Rev. John McCullough.  The medical
supplies are to be used in local hospitals and medical facilities.

With the United States focused on law and order and rebuilding efforts,
"Church World Service is keeping front and center the extreme humanitarian
and health conditions that many Iraqi people are still experiencing -
especially the children," notes McCullough.

Church World Service International Disaster Response Consultant Steve Weaver
is coordinating the medical supply shipment's late July arrival in Jordan,
and then overland transport to Iraq. The Lloyd A. Fry Foundation donated
shipping funds for the supplies, which include surgical kits and sterile
surgical components.

Weaver, speaking by satellite phone from Baghdad today, said humanitarian
aid efforts continue even though the security situation is "not great."
Non-governmental organizations continue to serve as a lifeline especially in
the health sector as the provisional authority struggles to get Iraq's
public health system back up to full capacity.

Medical needs continue to be one of the highest priorities in Iraq.  United
Nations officials reported last week (6/26) that Iraq's health care system
is operating at no more than half of its capacity.  That "extremely fragile"
system is struggling to cope as pre-existing problems were exacerbated by
the war and its chaotic aftermath, marked by confusion, insecurity and a
widespread lack of basic public services.

According to the United Nations report, malnutrition among children has
doubled in some parts of the country since the start of the war.  In
Baghdad, acute malnutrition rates had increased to 7.7 percent of children
under five, reflecting an increase from 4 percent before the war.  Richard
Alderslade, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization, told Reuters,
"The public health system is deteriorating with an increase in child
morbidity, child diarrhea, poor maternal management."

"There is quite a lot of confusion still," Weaver said.  Authorities "are
not sure what medical supplies are in storage, and distribution systems have
broken down.   We had a tough, tough stretch about a week ago," he added.
"There were 24-hour periods where there was neither water nor electricity,
with temperatures reaching 110 degrees during the day.	The last couple of
days have been better - with service at about 50 percent."

The $1.2 million donation of medical supplies continues the more than a
decade-long engagement of Church World Service in meeting humanitarian needs
in Iraq.  From 1991 through 2002, CWS provided more than $3 million in
blankets, food, medical supplies, "Gift of the Heart" School and Health Kits
and other aid for families and children whose resources have been exhausted
by a decade of war and subsequent trade sanctions.

In December 2002, CWS helped found the multi-agency All Our Children
campaign for Iraqi children's health.  Concentrating on the needs of the
most vulnerable, the campaign has, to date, provided $264,000 in cash and
$183,414 in-kind for medicine, medical supplies, emergency food aid,
blankets, wheelchairs and hygiene supplies for pediatrics hospitals and
clinics and to a program serving street children.

It is anticipated that a substantial portion of the $1.2 million in medical
supplies will be distributed to pediatrics hospitals in support of the All
Our Children campaign.

A global humanitarian agency supported in part by 36 Protestant, Orthodox
and Anglican denominations, CWS works with indigenous organizations to
provide sustainable self-help development, meet emergency needs, aid
uprooted people, and advocate to address the root causes of poverty and
powerlessness.

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CONTACTS:

Ann Walle/CWS/New York; Phone: (212) 870-2654; awalle@churchworldservice.org

Jan Dragin/New York/Boston; Phone: (781) 925-1526; jdragin@gis.net