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Over 10,000 Children, Elderly Die in November in Iraq
A total of 10,946 Iraqi children and elderly people died in November due to malnutrition and medicine shortages caused by the decade-old UN sanctions, the Health Ministry reported on Sunday, December 17.
During last month, 7,556 children under the age of five died of diarrhea, pneumonia, respiratory infections and malnutrition, while 3,390 above the age of five and elderly people died of hypertension, diabetes and malignant neoplasms, a report issued by the ministry said.
The mortality was in sharp contrast with the same month in 1989, when only 258 children and 422 elderly people died, the report added.
The total mortality of Iraq has surpassed 1.37 million since the stringent UN sanctions were imposed on the country for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, it said.
Baghdad claims that the sanctions have caused a humanitarian disaster in the country.
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