Malnutrition leading cause of death in post-war Angola.

News Nabarro, the senior WHO official appointed by the UN and the World Bank to help prepare the health side of Iraq's needs assessment for Madrid. Building a health system virtually from scratch is a formidable challenge amid continued violence, tension and uncertainty and is expected to cost billions. WHO has already helped Afghanistan, East Timor and, many years ago, Cambodia, rebuild their health systems from the ashes of war. After Iraq, the next such project will be to help Sudan create a public health system, Dr Nabarro said. But humanitarian agencies in Iraq say the dire security situation there is making their mission difficult and dangerous. After the bomb attack on UN headquarters in Baghdad on 19 August, many — including Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), Oxfam, Save the Children, Merlin and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees — scaled back their operations, withdrew international staff and moved their headquarters to neighbouring Jordan or Kuwait. The ICRC is still working closely with local partner, the Iraqi Red Crescent Society, visiting detainees and providing emergency support for water and sanitation as well as medicines. Médecins Sans Frontières said that, despite the security situation, it was providing primary care services, with up to 2500 consultations per week. The US-led war in Iraq triggered a complete collapse of the country's health system. Outward signs were looted hospitals and violence against health workers, especially female staff. But the system was " already badly run down " due to previous wars, sanctions, drastically reduced spending — some estimates suggest the Iraqi health budget was cut by 90 per cent during the 1990s — as well as an inequitable health treatment policy. Decades of weak primary health care have resulted in high rates of maternal and child mortality, and of malnutrition. Diseases like malaria and cholera are endemic in certain parts of Iraq and there is a drastic shortage of nurses, epidemiologists and public health administrators. One of the first projects was to vaccinate all Iraqi children of five years and younger against measles, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, and polio by the end of the year. The National Vaccination Days project is being sponsored by WHO, UNICEF, the US Government and the Iraqi health ministry. In addition, the Ministry of Health, with support from WHO, other UN agencies and external bodies, is re-establishing disease …