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USAID provides grants to the Ibn Al-Qiff Spinal Cord Injury Hospital
Baghdad, Iraq
October 2003
The Ibn Al-Qiff Spinal Cord Injury Hospital 15 KM northeast of Baghdad was severely damaged when the adjacent UN Headquarters was destroyed in a bomb in August 2003. The only facility of its kind in Iraq is now only able to treat the most severe patients and that is due to the dedication of staff who have not been paid in months and work under extreme conditions. A $524,500 grant from USAID for medical equipment and supplies will help get this facility back in service providing 125 bed inpatient services and and handling an estimated 25,000 outpatient visits each year.
Ahmed Ali Swedan, 11, lies in bed at the Ibn Al-Qiff Spinal Cord Injury Hospital after injuries from shelling in July 2003 left him paralyzed from the waist down. The hospital, 15 KM northeast of Baghdad, was severely damaged when the adjacent UN Headquarters was destroyed in a bomb in August 2003. The only facility of its kind in Iraq is now only able to treat the most severe patients and that is due to the dedication of staff who have not been paid in months and work under extreme conditions. A $524,500 grant from USAID for medical equipment and supplies will help get this facility back in service providing 125 bed inpatient services and and handling an estimated 25,000 outpatient visits each year.
Ahmed Ali Swedan, 11, lies in bed at the Ibn Al-Qiff Spinal Cord Injury Hospital after injuries from shelling in July 2003 left him paralized from the waist down. His mother helps care for him. The hospital, 15 KM northeast of Baghdad, was severely damaged when the adjacent UN Headquarters was destroyed in a bomb in August 2003. The only facility of its kind in Iraq is now only able to treat the most severe patients and that is due to the dedication of staff who have not been paid in months and work under extreme conditions. A $524,500 grant from USAID for medical equipment and supplies will help get this facility back in service providing 125 bed inpatient services and and handling an estimated 25,000 outpatient visits each year.
Saeda Thehawey Hassin, 13, lies in bed at the Ibn Al-Qiff Spinal Cord Injury Hospital after injuries from a bullet in the back on September 10, 2003 left her paralized from the waist down. The hospital, 15 KM northeast of Baghdad, was severely damaged when the adjacent UN Headquarters was destroyed in a bomb in August 2003. The only facility of its kind in Iraq is now only able to treat the most severe patients and that is due to the dedication of staff who have not been paid in months and work under extreme conditions. A $524,500 grant from USAID for medical equipment and supplies will help get this facility back in service providing 125 bed inpatient services and and handling an estimated 25,000 outpatient visits each year.
Dr. Samyan Nife attends to Al Abdullah Ali, 21, at the Ibn Al-Qiff Spinal Cord Injury Hospital after injuries he suffered in a diving accident on June 10, 2003 left him paralized from the waist down. The hospital, 15 KM northeast of Baghdad, was severely damaged when the adjacent UN Headquarters was destroyed in a bomb in August 2003. The only facility of its kind in Iraq is now only able to treat the most severe patients and that is due to the dedication of staff who have not been paid in months and work under extreme conditions. A $524,500 grant from USAID for medical equipment and supplies will help get this facility back in service providing 125 bed inpatient services and and handling an estimated 25,000 outpatient visits each year.
Al Abdullah Ali, 21, lies in bed at the Ibn Al-Qiff Spinal Cord Injury Hospital after injuries he suffered in a diving accident on June 10, 2003 left him paralized from the waist down. The hospital, 15 KM northeast of Baghdad, was severely damaged when the adjacent UN Headquarters was destroyed in a bomb in August 2003. The only facility of its kind in Iraq is now only able to treat the most severe patients and that is due to the dedication of staff who have not been paid in months and work under extreme conditions. A $524,500 grant from USAID for medical equipment and supplies will help get this facility back in service providing 125 bed inpatient services and and handling an estimated 25,000 outpatient visits each year.
Dr.Samyan Nife inspects damage at the Ibn Al-Qiff Spinal Cord Injury Hospital. The hospital, 15 KM northeast of Baghdad, was severely damaged when the adjacent UN Headquarters was destroyed in a bomb in August 2003. The only facility of its kind in Iraq is now only able to treat the most severe patients and that is due to the dedication of staff who have not been paid in months and work under extreme conditions. A $524,500 grant from USAID for medical equipment and supplies will help get this facility back in service providing 125 bed inpatient services and and handling an estimated 25,000 outpatient visits each year.
The Ibn Al-Qiff Spinal Cord Injury Hospital, 15 KM northeast of Baghdad was severely damaged when the adjacent UN Headquarters was destroyed in a bomb in August 2003. The only facility of its kind in Iraq is now only able to treat the most severe patients and that is due to the dedication of staff who have not been paid in months and work under extreme conditions. A $524,500 grant from USAID for medical equipment and supplies will help get this facility back in service providing 125 bed inpatient services and and handling an estimated 25,000 outpatient visits each year.
The physical therapy room at the Ibn Al-Qiff Spinal Cord Injury Hospital 15 KM northeast of Baghdad was severely damaged when the adjacent UN Headquarters was destroyed in a bomb in August 2003. The only facility of its kind in Iraq is now only able to treat the most severe patients and that is due to the dedication of staff who have not been paid in months and work under extreme conditions. A $524,500 grant from USAID for medical equipment and supplies will help get this facility back in service providing 125 bed inpatient services and and handling an estimated 25,000 outpatient visits each year.

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Accomplishments: Health

A healthy population is vital to development and economic growth. Health conditions in Iraq deteriorated substantially under Saddam Hussein. By 2003, almost a third of the children in the south and central part of the country were malnourished. Low breastfeeding rates, high rates of anemia among women, low birth weight, diarrhea, and acute respiratory infections caused one in eight children to die before their fifth birthday. After the conflict, services were disrupted and equipment, medicine, and supplies looted. USAID is helping the Ministry of Health restore basic services so healthy workers can return to work and healthy children can be educated. USAID will ensure services to vulnerable populations, including treatment of acute malnutrition and vaccinations. Over the next two years, USAID will assist the Ministry of Health to increase the professional skills of its health workers and administrators so that they can reduce the mortality rate of children under five years of age.

    Photo:
    Iraqi women and children wait to see a doctor at a primary health care center in the Al-Kargh district of Baghdad, Iraq. (Photo: Thomas Hartwell)
  • Over 30 million doses of vaccines have been procured by the Ministry of Health (MOH) since July, supported by USAID and UNICEF.
  • An estimated 3 million Iraqi children under the age of 5 have been vaccinated. The full amount of vaccines supported by USAID will benefit 4.2 million children under the age of five and 700,000 pregnant women.
  • Rehabilitated 20 delivery rooms serving more than 300,000 residents of Basrah
  • Developed a standard set of specifications for equipping primary health care clinics.
    • More than 60 primary health clinics are being renovated and over 600 re-equipped to provide life saving health services
  • More than 100,000 pregnant, nursing mothers and malnourished children under 5 years have received 2.5 kg of high protein biscuit supplementary food rations.
  • Evaluated 18 national and regional public health laboratories for equipment needs.
  • Completed the rehabilitation of the National Polio Laboratory.
  • Began the training of more than 8000 health workers to identify and treat acutely malnourished children.
  • Working with the Iraqi Ministry of Health to develop a Master Plan that will reduce child mortality and increase the level of preventative care available to the Iraqi people.

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Last Updated on: December 05, 2003