The politics of disease

The devastating effects of the continuous economic sanctions on Iraq on the health of the people as well as the health care system are no news. According to the World Health Organisation, the quality of health care has been set back by at least 50 years. Hospitals are falling apart. Iraqi doctors and patients cannot get the drugs they need. Mental health is no exception.

Sarmed Al-Fahd, president of the Iraqi chapter of the International League Against Epilepsy, who was attending the Cairo and Sharm El-Sheikh meetings, told Al-Ahram Weekly that the grave shortage in basic nutrients and vital life supplies contributed to an increased emergence of mental illnesses linked to malnutrition, including epilepsy.

In a previous interview with the Weekly, Iraqi Health Minister Umeed Medhat Mubarak pointed out that malnutrition has increased 36-fold. This is because the government's ration cards can only provide the average Iraqi with one-third of the daily nutritional needs.

Those already suffering from epilepsy are also affected. "The prevailing stressful situation, anxiety and malnutrition obviously lead to an increased occurrence of seizures for people with epilepsy," said Al-Fahd.

The cases and more suffering," explained Al-Fahd.

"If 12 years of sanctions are not enough for the world to punish our people, then at the very least the supply of essential medications should not be affected," he said.