Berliner Boersenzeitung - Covid rages in Iraq as vaccinations lag

EUR -
AED 4.074348
AFN 78.016446
ALL 99.632691
AMD 430.125276
ANG 2.001452
AOA 1022.185011
ARS 1059.19379
AUD 1.663304
AWG 1.996663
AZN 1.890141
BAM 1.95546
BBD 2.24231
BDT 132.706945
BGN 1.95546
BHD 0.417727
BIF 3207.842712
BMD 1.109257
BND 1.442349
BOB 7.673667
BRL 6.209738
BSD 1.110507
BTN 93.299791
BWP 14.748438
BYN 3.634369
BYR 21741.442931
BZD 2.238511
CAD 1.506205
CDF 3153.618884
CHF 0.935032
CLF 0.037926
CLP 1046.498195
CNY 7.863419
CNH 7.869682
COP 4622.996862
CRC 583.298665
CUC 1.109257
CUP 29.395318
CVE 110.245847
CZK 25.053246
DJF 197.765643
DKK 7.467192
DOP 66.448456
DZD 146.879483
EGP 53.689673
ERN 16.638859
ETB 127.467256
FJD 2.461225
FKP 0.86358
GBP 0.84473
GEL 2.984335
GGP 0.86358
GHS 17.401977
GIP 0.86358
GMD 77.648405
GNF 9597.332687
GTQ 8.591507
GYD 232.349635
HKD 8.646827
HNL 27.519219
HRK 7.618478
HTG 146.624527
HUF 394.086268
IDR 17147.398392
ILS 4.13438
IMP 0.86358
INR 93.164136
IQD 1454.847254
IRR 46705.278687
ISK 152.600954
JEP 0.86358
JMD 174.369707
JOD 0.786135
JPY 157.897273
KES 142.98516
KGS 93.403678
KHR 4524.214023
KMF 493.069075
KPW 998.331474
KRW 1485.040811
KWD 0.338779
KYD 0.925439
KZT 532.537484
LAK 24532.738008
LBP 99450.422807
LKR 331.782361
LRD 216.562377
LSL 19.696178
LTL 3.275349
LVL 0.670979
LYD 5.287081
MAD 10.781927
MDL 19.323643
MGA 5045.123527
MKD 61.524312
MMK 3602.824416
MNT 3769.255622
MOP 8.914251
MRU 43.799391
MUR 50.981885
MVR 17.027519
MWK 1925.765443
MXN 22.165457
MYR 4.803643
MZN 70.853853
NAD 19.696178
NGN 1780.535853
NIO 40.882898
NOK 11.888077
NPR 149.280066
NZD 1.796514
OMR 0.426676
PAB 1.110507
PEN 4.212368
PGK 4.396236
PHP 61.830417
PKR 309.345658
PLN 4.285893
PYG 8578.509684
QAR 4.047997
RON 4.974801
RSD 117.007673
RUB 99.832656
RWF 1492.140775
SAR 4.164333
SBD 9.259888
SCR 15.236253
SDG 667.222339
SEK 11.428845
SGD 1.446143
SHP 0.86358
SLE 25.343537
SLL 23260.535519
SOS 634.689737
SRD 32.153491
STD 22959.386371
SVC 9.717312
SYP 2787.04244
SZL 19.690579
THB 37.43082
TJS 11.827445
TMT 3.893493
TND 3.371114
TOP 2.599771
TRY 37.601053
TTD 7.526692
TWD 35.541495
TZS 3020.675228
UAH 45.516193
UGX 4125.283328
USD 1.109257
UYU 44.852208
UZS 14112.548274
VEF 4018342.815906
VES 40.653047
VND 27304.368252
VUV 131.69322
WST 3.106944
XAF 655.843063
XAG 0.03972
XAU 0.000444
XCD 2.997824
XDR 0.824757
XOF 655.843063
XPF 119.331742
YER 277.702966
ZAR 19.802451
ZMK 9984.650719
ZMW 29.179931
ZWL 357.180396
  • SCS

    -0.6100

    13.23

    -4.61%

  • BCE

    -0.2000

    35.75

    -0.56%

  • RELX

    0.3100

    46.2

    +0.67%

  • BCC

    -0.6600

    124.13

    -0.53%

  • NGG

    -0.3700

    67.62

    -0.55%

  • RBGPF

    58.7100

    58.71

    +100%

  • CMSC

    0.0600

    25.02

    +0.24%

  • CMSD

    0.1000

    25.04

    +0.4%

  • JRI

    0.0300

    13.12

    +0.23%

  • RIO

    -0.6800

    59.71

    -1.14%

  • GSK

    0.5400

    43.67

    +1.24%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0300

    6.07

    -0.49%

  • VOD

    -0.2200

    9.97

    -2.21%

  • AZN

    0.0500

    83.05

    +0.06%

  • BP

    -0.4500

    31.9

    -1.41%

  • BTI

    0.3200

    38.61

    +0.83%

Covid rages in Iraq as vaccinations lag
Covid rages in Iraq as vaccinations lag

Covid rages in Iraq as vaccinations lag

In the stores and buses of Iraq masks are rare even as Covid-19 spreads widely, vaccines are viewed with suspicion and the sick see hospitals as a last resort.

Text size:

At Al-Shifaa Hospital in the capital Baghdad, the ramifications are clear.

"More than 95 percent of those sick with Covid-19 in intensive care are unvaccinated," said Ali Abdel Hussein Kazem, assistant director of the facility.

Half of the 40 intensive care beds are occupied in the department, where irregular beeping from monitors and IV machines is constantly heard.

Al-Shifaa hospital has been turned into a Covid treatment centre since the start of the pandemic and can treat 175 patients.

Linked to breathing devices, an old man and a young woman share a large room, where a family member is allowed to monitor them -- masked and in a white protective outfit.

Next door, a man in his 60s fidgets, pushing away his blanket. An asthmatic, he is also hooked up to a ventilator.

"He says he is suffocating," an alarmed relative said, summoning a doctor.

Iraq's public health system, already worn down by decades of war, under-investment and corruption, has struggled to cope with the coronavirus.

Since January, Iraq's 40 million people have been confronted with a fourth coronavirus wave but -- unlike other countries -- the government has not imposed any restrictions.

Iraq has recorded more than 2.2 million infections and 24,000 deaths since the pandemic began two years ago, but data released by the authorities indicates that infections are now declining to around 2,000 new cases per day.

Despite 1,400 vaccination centres, officials struggle to overcome scepticism about the jabs, which health experts around the world say are saving lives.

- Help from abroad -

Fewer than 10 million people in Iraq, about a quarter of the population, have been vaccinated, said health ministry spokesman Seif al-Badr.

Among them, not even seven million have received two doses, and those with a booster number less than 100,000.

In neighbouring Iran, 66 percent of the 83-million population have received two doses.

"About 90 percent of the sick are older than 60," said Al-Shifaa's intensive care director Mohammed Salih, as he made his morning rounds, checking X-rays and giving instructions.

"Most have chronic conditions: diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney disease," Salih said, accompanied by doctors and nurses from Doctors Without Borders (MSF), a charity which is assisting the hospital.

Along with training that aims to "sustain the care", the MSF programme begun in November provides physiotherapy and mental health care, said Daniel Uche, a physician who heads the project.

Countering misinformation is another priority.

"Most of the pregnant women we admitted in our facility are not vaccinated because they are afraid for their precious babies, that maybe if they take the vaccine it will have an effect" on the infant, said Uche.

Salih said he noticed another trend: "Most of the patients come in only after reaching a critical stage."

They prefer to stay at home because of "social media" and "rumours" which minimise the gravity of the coronavirus or which raise suspicions about the vaccines, he added.

Those are the latest challenges for a health system crippled by decades of war and especially an international embargo under the dictator Saddam Hussein, who was toppled in a US-led 2003 invasion.

"People are afraid of hospital because of rumours that say they won't get proper care, and that we won't be interested in looking after them," a nurse said, requesting anonymity.

Two deadly fires at public hospital Covid-19 units last year sparked outrage among the population. One blaze killed more than 80 people in Baghdad in April and three months later another claimed at least 60 lives in Nasiriyah, southern Iraq.

- 'Be careful' -

Authorities acknowledge that challenges abound for a sector dealing with ageing equipment and shortages.

Badr, the ministry spokesman, said the health infrastructure in some provinces "was entirely destroyed" in the war against the Islamic State group jihadists from 2014-2017.

The health budget of the oil-rich country does not even receive two percent of state expenditures.

"For previous governments health care was not a priority," said Badr, adding that even though the system is challenged it is ready to help those who are sick with Covid-19.

"We have thousands of beds available for people who would have breathing difficulties. We also have medicine and the necessary equipment, as well as vaccines," he said.

At Al-Shifaa, Farouk Naoum, 75, is leaving hospital after his recovery. He was among the minority of Iraqis vaccinated with two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine but despite the protection it offered, he still got infected.

"You have to be careful, very careful," he said after his 31 days of treatment.

(H.Schneide--BBZ)