Introduction
Iraq (Mesopotamia), officially known as the Republic of Iraq, is located in Western Asia. Baghdad, the capital city, is home to more than 24% of the population. According to Iraq’s official statistical reports, the area of Iraq covers 438,446 km2 (169,285 sq. mi). The population was estimated to be 37,204,574 in 2016. The male (50.2 %) to female (49.8%) ratio was at a level of 102.44 males per 100 females in 2015. The estimated population in 1920 was 3 million which increased to 12 million in 1977 and doubled to 23 million in 1997.
The war in Iraq beginning in March 2003, triggered a wave of violence and turmoil in the country. Daily life became unstable and insecure. Prior to the war, Iraq had the highest health and educational indicators in the Middle East. However, after Iraq-Iran, Gulf War, and international sanctions, every-day life was characterized by deteriorated economic and social conditions. The collapse of oil prices significantly damaged Iraq’s economy and standard of living. The situation was difficult after several wars, more than 13 years of sanctions, and political corruption. The Iraqi Government was allowed to utilize oil revenues to purchase goods including foods (Oil-For-Food Program-OFFP). The economy of Iraq has become unstable since 2013 due to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and decreasing oil prices in the world. The war against the ISIS requires a high cost on the economy, but improvements in security will make a positive impact. In my country, farmers already living in ISIS-controlled areas did not have access to government-subsidized seeds, pesticides, fertilizers, and agricultural mechanization. Those in disputed areas are blocked from accessing their fields. Farmers could not harvest their fields due to most of the area’s machinery was stolen and confiscated by ISIS when they escaped to other Provinces. Food is a basic platform for human progress, which is a fundamental necessity to human life. It is an essential to sustain an adequate food supply. These populations are struggling with limited resources and basic foodstuffs. In Iraq, Inflexible policies and government illiquidity have led to decreased domestic food production and higher import dependency from other countries. Food insecurity is on track to worsen because of the protracted crisis in Iraq, inflexible policies, and fiscal challenges. All of these reasons can be linked to be pushing the country and population toward food insecurity. Proactive policy-making and assistance are prerequisites to thwart an impending vicious cycle that starts with hunger and feeds back into the protracted conflict.
Health Status
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2002, chronic disease accounted for 43% of all deaths in Iraq categorized as communicable maternal and perinatal, nutritional deficiencies (44%), cardiovascular disease (21%), injuries (13%), other chronic diseases, cancer (6%), chronic respiratory disease (3%), and diabetes (1%). Also, the prevalence of overweight and obesity in Iraq is expected to increase among both genders over the next few years. Obesity is found in both poor and rich families. This is due to many lifestyle factors such as inappropriate diet and/or lack of physical activity.
Malnutrition
Malnutrition remains a serious nutritional problem in Iraq. Malnutrition is still a public problem in young children, pregnant women, and elderly. One of the studies had shown that 60% of the deaths of children under five years old were caused by malnutrition. During April 1999, results showed that 21% of children under five years of age were underweight, 20% were stunted, and 9% showed signs of wasting. After the Second Gulf War, food insecurity has become one of the most problematic and upsetting epidemics to the Iraqi people. Only 30% of Iraqis had access to safe drinking water in 2007. More than half of Iraqi children and women suffer from chronic and acute malnutrition that could be contributing to the increased mortality rate. One fifth of children were underweight, and one third of children under 5 were chronically malnourished in 2000. Some reports have shown cases of Vitamin A and D as well as iodine deficiency indicating the need for intervention. More than 35% of adult males are overweight, but malnutrition and anemia are common in children and pregnant women. Many people are in need of nutrition education and promotion programs.
My Vision and Goals
The sad truth is that many individuals do not care about nutrition, and more than 3 million have no food to eat. There are no dietitian nor dietetics education programs in Iraq despite the need for nutritious diet guidance for chronic disease prevention and management, reproduction, and growth. A clear vision is that the nutrition, dietetics, and health promotion programs in Iraq should be subject to advocacy promotions and infrastructural improvements. In addition to the analysis of existing problems, four areas have been identified as priorities for action:
- Increasing awareness and understanding of potential solutions for malnutrition
- Developing and implementing nutrition strategies to reduce malnutrition
- Marketing and advocacy for breastfeeding practices and Increased community action
- Improving the nutritional standards of Iraqis
My goal of the following nutrition strategy is to improve the nutritional status of Iraqi people:
- Reducing wasting and stunting in children under five years of age
- Increasing breastfeeding
- Increasing complementary feeding
- Reducing overweight and obesity among all age groups
- Providing nutritional health promotion and counseling to all people
- Reducing micronutrient deficiencies
- Promoting the availability of adequate food
- Developing and implementing school feeding programs
Conclusion
Malnutrition is still a serious public health problem in Iraq. Therefore, the nutrition strategy has been to actively trying to improve health and nutritional outcome, which can give a clear vision to an assessment of nutritional status and improvement it in the future. The strategies are focused on several goals, one of them is collaboration between different ministries within the government of Iraq in nutrition such as the Ministry of Health and Nutrition Research Institute. The purpose of this strategy is to specify a framework through which human and financial resources may be rallied in order to assure significant improvement in the health and nutrition status of all Iraqi’s, while providing a foundation for the planning and management over all sectors in nutrition. According to my observation throughout, nutrition is the fundamental factor which influences health and its relationship to health and disease. We are absolutely nothing without nutritional values. My desire is to do the best in this field which could be beneficial for humankind.
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