GENEVA - The World Health Organisation (WHO) has for the first time since 2003 redeployed expatriate staff to Iraq, the United Nations agency said on Thursday. It said several international staff had quietly returned to Iraq in late June, reestablishing a "permanent international basis" in the country after 5 years. U.N. agencies withdrew international staff after the deadly bombing of its Baghdad headquarters in August 2003, but Iraqi nationals continued their aid projects. The U.N. refugee agency recently sent back staff to Iraq.
Dr. Naeema Al-Gasseer, WHO country representative to Iraq, and a Bahraini who had been based in Jordan for the past few years in charge of WHO's Iraq programme, said WHO experts were helping the Iraqi health ministry expand vaccination programmes, monitor for diseases and improve standards of medical care.
"Needs are very huge," she said, noting hepatitis and rotavirus vaccines will be introduced for Iraqi children over the next year, complementing programmes for polio and measles. "We can deliver more, while not losing sight that security is still a concern. We have a challenge to continue to come up with innovative approaches to be able to move around inside Iraq," Al-Gasseer said.
"I managed during this past month to visit a women's prison, hospitals and public health services outside the Green Zone. I have seen a difference in the streets and in the movement of people," she said. |