The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
The health
charity Medact considered the direct and indirect effects of the
conflict in Iraq
in its
November 2003 report Continuing
collateral damage: the health and environmental
costs of war
on Iraq 2003.117
That report
outlined the indirect effects on health arising from:
•
damage to the
environment, including through the use of depleted
uranium
ammunition;
•
damage to
Iraq’s water and sanitation and power infrastructure;
•
the continuing
risk of malnutrition and food insecurity;
•
damage to
housing; and
•
damage to
health services.
The report
stated that 7 percent of hospitals had been damaged during the
major combat
phase of
operations, and 12 percent had been looted. UNICEF had reported
that the
conflict
had led to the breakdown of the cold chain system for storing
vaccines, which
meant that
some 210,000 newborns had had no immunisations and were at risk
from
preventable
diseases such as measles.
The report
also outlined the physiological and social impacts of the war, and
suggested
that Iraq
would experience a rise in behavioural and emotional
disorders.
Although
the report did not attempt to quantify those indirect effects, many
of which would
only become
apparent over the long term, it concluded that they could prove to
be more
significant
than the direct effects.
The report
made a number of recommendations, including:
“•
Establish
health information systems to monitor disease incidence and
examine
disease
patterns in order to plan effective public health
interventions.
•
Carry out an
assessment of the country’s chemical risks and levels
of
contamination
in addition to surveillance of health effects of environmental
risk
factors
including depleted uranium.
•
Fund and
rapidly implement the clear‑up of all unexploded
ordnance.
•
Study
long‑term effects of the war on mental health and trends in
domestic
and
criminal violence, and develop effective health care and social
policy
interventions.
•
Fund
independent academic institutions or UN agencies to continue
monitoring
the health
effects of war.”
181.
Discussions
continued between senior officials in the FCO and MOD over
who
should have
responsibility for answering questions on civilian
casualties.
182.
The “Count the
Casualties” campaign was launched by Medact and IBC on
8 December,
through an open letter to Mr Blair.118
The letter
stated that without counting
117
Medact,
November 2003, Continuing
collateral damage: the health and environmental costs of war
on
Iraq
2003.
118
Letter
Medact to Blair, 8 December 2004, [untitled].
202