Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is reported to be caused by traumatic events that are outside the range of usual human experience including (but not limited to) military combat, violent personal assault, being kidnapped or taken hostage and terrorist attacks. Initial data suggests that at least 1 out of 6 Iraq War veterans are exhibiting symptoms of depression, anxiety and PTSD. Virtual R...

BACKGROUND To assess any health consequences of the anthrax vaccination programme in UK Armed Forces deployed to Iraq. METHODS Data were collected from two samples simultaneously. The first was 5302 randomly selected UK service personnel. The second was 607 service personnel involved in a longitudinal study, where pre-vaccination health had previously been collected. Both samples were offered...

Counts of military deaths in Iraq are well publicized, but deaths alone do not indicate the risk for an individual. In order to assess the extent of individual risk, the number of deaths must be compared to the number of individuals exposed to the risk of death. These risks may vary from person to person depending on such factors as one’s branch of service, rank, age, sex, race and ethnicity. I...

OBJECTIVE High rates of mental health concerns have been documented in US Army soldiers deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The goal of this study was to compare the postdeployment mental health screening results of US Army soldiers with 1 or 2 deployments to Iraq. METHOD Routine mental health screening data collected from September 7, 2005, to April 27, 2007, in the Soldier Welln...

OBJECTIVE To study the infant mortality rate (IMR) trend during wars and sanction periods in Western Iraq. METHODS Data collected from the birth and death certificates of Haditha Health Vital Statistics Center, Haditha city (80,000 population), Western Iraq, included name, age, gender, residence, and infant's place and date of births and deaths, in 5 different sanction and war stages of the c...

Leishmaniasis is endemic in 88 countries throughout Africa, Asia, Europe and North and South America (Dedet et al., 2003). There are an estimated 12 million cases worldwide and there are about 1.5 million new cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) each year of which over 90% occur in Afghanistan, Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Brazil and Peru (Ashford et al., 1992). Old World disease ...

BACKGROUND An excess mortality of nearly 100 000 deaths was reported in Iraq for the period March, 2003-September, 2004, attributed to the invasion of Iraq. Our aim was to update this estimate. METHODS Between May and July, 2006, we did a national cross-sectional cluster sample survey of mortality in Iraq. 50 clusters were randomly selected from 16 Governorates, with every cluster consisting ...

BACKGROUND The recent events in Iraq following the 2003 war render Iraq as a country with a high level of all types of violence. Exposure to violence, as a witness or a victim, is related to a number of longer term emotional, behavioral and social problems. OBJECTIVES To investigate the impact of witnessing and experiencing community violence and tragedy as a factor contributing to mental hea...

Britain has a relatively good track record in counterinsurgency (COIN).1 But as one journalist commented in 2008: “the war in Iraq has been one of the most disastrous wars ever fought by Britain. It has been small, but we achieved nothing.”2 Although this view can be contested, it is clear that, if judged in terms of the original aim, Britain’s achievements fell far short of expectations set in...

BACKGROUND Many adult cigarette smokers initiated the habit as adolescents. Adolescent tobacco use may be a marker of other unhealthy behaviours. There are limited data on the prevalence and correlates of cigarette smoking among in-school adolescents in Iraq. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of, and assess the socio-demographic correlates of current cigarette smoking among in-school adolesce...