Category: Humanitarian Crisis

IRAQ’S HEALTH SYSTEM AT RISK: THE STRUGGLE TO FIGHT COVID-19 AND SAVE LIVES

The COVID-19 pandemic, which for the first few months seemed to mysteriously spare Iraq’s exposed population, is now hitting the country of 39 million and its under-resourced health system hard. The main cause has been poor compliance with social distancing policies by many Iraqis who haven’t taken the pandemic seriously… Read more

Overwhelming Need

“We need to maintain the flow of water and food. Basics only, inexpensive but continuous and lifesaving.” – Hala al-Saraf, Director of our Soccer Salam partner, the Iraq Health Access Organization Iraqi Security Forces and their allies are quickly making gains in their efforts to clear the city of Mosul… Read more

Reassessing the Global Refugee Crisis

“Conflict is natural. The issue is how well we manage conflict and attempt to not allow it progress to violence.” – President of USIP, Nancy Lindborg In a globalized world, it is nearly impossible to be completely insulated. There are faster planes, faster trains, and faster bandwidth. However, what has… Read more

The Humanitarian Crisis in Iraq: Internal Displacement

Introduction This post will focus on Internally Displaced Persons, or IDPs. Understanding the significance of the IDP problem is crucial to understanding the humanitarian crisis occurring in Iraq today. There are currently roughly 3.9 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in Iraq, 3.2 million of those being displaced since January 2014.… Read more

The Power of Empathy and Advocacy

“I have long said that Americans are the most generous people in the world. But we do have the shortest attention spans. And when it comes to global crises today, I fear that too many in the United States believe that we can insulate ourselves from the world’s problems and… Read more

President Obama Sits Down with Prime Minister Abadi in the Oval Office

On Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi met in the Oval Office. Both leaders expressed their commitment to a robust relationship between the two countries, emphasizing priorities for continued cooperation. Several of these priorities reflect the progress that Haider al-Abadi has made in improving governance… Read more

Humanitarian Crisis Overview Series: Health, WASH, and Food Security

Last week’s blog post on the displacement issue in Iraq’s ongoing humanitarian crisis highlighted an important phenomenon; the violence has come to intensify existing development problems in Iraq. Among the most important of these problems are health, food security, and WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) programs.   Highlights: After 4… Read more