UN Humanitarian Briefing, Baghdad

8 June

Veronique Taveau Spokesperson

• The Baghdad Area interdisplinary working group on IDPs/Displaced/Dispossesed Populations has established a number of priority sites for pilot interventions. The Working group is composed of UN agencies and NGO's working together on the issue of displaced and dispossessed people.

• Some of these priority sites are urgently required by the Authority in order to re-establish public services.

• The Khan Bani Sa'ad Prison, located 30 Km NW Baghdad, just after the Diyala Governorate border, falls into this category.

• This site is reportedly occupied by a large number of IDPs (around 160 families), who the Authority is planning to evict immediately, in order to reactivate the prison.

• Our team is there this morning to assess the situation and check first hand what can be done for the people. Premiere Urgence, the French NGO, is also participating to that needs assessment mission.

• Security. The number of traffic police increased in Baghdad, resulting in a decline of traffic congestion. Considerable quantity of explosives and ammunition were seized in al-Fallujah, and several persons arrested in connection.

• The Humanitarian Assistance Coalition Center H ACC-Baghdad reports that as at 1 June water provision to Baghdad was 55-70% of pre-war supply and that the 400kv ring around the city and the one line from the north is now complete. Baghdad received 50-60% of the estimated power demand as of 05 June. The Iraqi Rehabilitation and Employment Project (IREP -UNDP team delivered 446,100 litres of fuel to power 35 water and sanitation pumping stations in the last week.

• Electricity. Regular meetings on rehabilitation of power plants and networks, chaired by the Office of the Coalition Provisional Authority (OCPA), with Commission of Electricity (CoE), USAID, Bechtel Co. and UNDP are taking place. According to OCPA, as of last week, the power stations output has been restored to pre-conflict levels (3,184 MW). Available power in Baghdad was 1300 MW (52% of the needs).

• Coordination. On 8 June the first meeting of a working group including OCPA, UN and the Council of Mosul to discuss priorities and interaction among different actors for Food, Water & Sanitation, Shelter, Education, Health and IDP's sectors will take place.

• Finally a word on our website… the HIC - Humanitarian Information Center for Iraq. Web address is " agoodplacetostart.org " - For the past three months, there have been over 800 000 hits on the web site We have an average of 8,500 hits a day. The most popular locations are the index, documents and assessments. You can also find different maps there

• Lots of information concerning NGO's are also available. It is a very useful tool for the Humanitarian Community

Antonia Paradela Spokeswoman World Food Programme

The distribution of the June food rations, the first to be done at a countrywide level since the beginning of the war, is reported to be proceeding smoothly in all governorates. On average, the distribution cycle takes about 24 days to end.

WFP's deputy executive director, Jean Jacques Graisse, is starting a visit to Iraq today. He'll be also travelling to Erbil and Mosul. He will visit warehouses and distribution agents, and see families collecting their food rations. He will also talk to officials from the Ministry of Trade and the Coalition Provisional Authority. He will stress that among the objectives of WFP in Iraq until the end of the year are:

Organize the shipping, transport and delivery of food commodities from donors and the oil-for-food programme to the Ministry's silos and warehouses.

Provide approximately 480,000 mt of food each month for five months.

Complete a Vulnerability Assessment Map study to identify vulnerable groups that may assist the Iraqi Authorities to design a social safety net for people in need.

WFP has contracts signed with 12 NGOs to implement feeding programmes for vulnerable groups. The agency also has special arrangements in place for Internally Displaced People (IDPs) and those who have lost their ration cards.

Since April WFP has brought about 581,000 tons of food to Iraq to replenish the Iraqi Public Distribution System.

Geoffrey Keele Spokesperson UNICEF

The health situation of children in Iraq remains tenuous. Many children continue to suffer from high rates of diarrhoeal disease, much higher than this time last year. While diarrhoea may sound trivial, in Iraq it kills. Prior to the latest war, 70% of all child deaths were due to diarrhoea and respiratory infections.

One of the most deadly of diarrhoeal related disease is cholera. In Basra there are now 66 confirmed cases of cholera of which 79% are children under 5 years old. 59% of victims are girls.

There are also clinically confirmed cases of cholera in Nassariya and Missan, but these cases have yet to be confirmed through laboratory tests. This is due to a serious lack of the required medical equipment in the south and throughout Iraq as a whole.

Dysentery and Typhoid are also becoming a real problem for children. Dysentery is spread through contaminated water and food. The bacteria lodges in the intestines of a child and erodes the intestinal wall leading to bloody diarrhoea. In the past few weeks, doctors at hospitals around Baghdad have told UNICEF they are seeing an increase in the cases of dysentery.

Typhoid, which is also spread by contaminated food, is being seen within the capital as well. The current worry about typhoid is that prior to the war and the collapse of the health system, there was rigorous surveillance of typhoid and other diseases that affect children. Once a week reports would be sent to the Directorates of Health around the country, and these would be compiled into reports for the Ministry of Health.

Now, there is no surveillance and we do not know how many cases of typhoid are out there and where they are located. This type of information is vital in planning a coordinated and effective response. We know for instance that last year there was a total of 2,000 cases. This year we simply do not know because the health system has ceased to function and we can not track cases.

To assist Iraqi children afflicted with these diseases, UNICEF is providing hospitals with IV fluids and Oral Re-hydration Salts (ORS) so children can recover. For instance UNICEF has sent enough ORS to Kerbala to treat 25,000 children dehydrated from diarrhoeal disease.

We have also provided enough Ampicillin to hospitals in Baghdad to treat roughly 1,000 children for Typhoid, and enough drugs and medical supplies for 50,000 patients in Al-Ramadi in Anbar governorate.