A book on the challenges of the health situation in Iraq

A report was issued in Baghdad in May 2019, entitled "The Health Situation in Iraq … Challenges and Priorities for Action", addressed to the Minister of Health and the Environment, Dr. Alaeddin Alwan, which dealt with many issues related to the health of Iraqi citizens and diseases affecting the general public in Iraq.
The report describes the current deterioration of health services in Iraq, particularly in the southern and northern governorates such as Amara and Mosul, and how the poverty rate has increased by 20 per cent over the last three decades compared to previous situation in Iraq.
The report points out that the low distribution of medical capacity in all governorates of Iraq and their concentration in specific areas have contributed to the deterioration of health infrastructure over the years. Financial corruption and embezzlement have contributed to weakening health services, while poverty has contributed to the inability of citizens to spend enough money for treatment. The pollution of water and air has increased the spread of infectious diseases in Iraqi society.
In addition, the report noted the Ministry's attempt in recent years to improve medical staff and recruit staff in the health sector: in order to develop health care for citizens, the Ministry also tried to develop and manufacture drugs instead of importing them out of Iraq.
As a practitioner in Baghdad in the early 1990s, I can say that the distribution of doctors across the country was adapted to the needs of the population of the early 1990s and that basic drugs for chronic diseases and transient illnesses were available despite the first Gulf War in 1991 and the United States headquarters in America, which resulted in the migration of thousands of people. Iraqi doctors abroad, including me.
In addition, the Iraqi hospitals were characterized by the discipline of all the staff, from big to small, by working openly and by a constant attention to the cleanliness of the hospital, in spite of the low wages practiced during the wars and the headquarters, and this, until the first years after the occupation of Iraq, where I returned to practice my medical practice in Iraq. For a short time.
The maternal and child care centers received around 50 pregnant and lactating women every day, with the necessary care, but the health sector is currently experiencing the worst services.
It should be noted that the report did not address the need to attract Iraqi talents of the highest degree to the lowest degree of doctors, engineers and teachers in order to rebuild the country after to have provided the state with adequate climate and security.
These issues raise many questions: where is the role of the government and other ministries, what is the role of the security and intelligence services in dealing with the many Iraqi people who have to flee Iraq to protect themselves and their families, and where can the competent authorities build and build hospitals and protect workers against violence and even murder? If there had been goodwill, Iraq would have evolved considerably in the last fifteen years since the invasion of its territory by the United States, all the more so as the vast financial resources are not lacking.

– Iraqi doctor living in Norway