Iraq: Sept ‘07
Special reports on the oil industry and healthcare services provide fresh insights into the problems facing both.
Iraq: Sept ‘07
Special reports on the oil industry and healthcare services provide fresh insights into the problems facing both.
IWPR published two special reports in September on Iraq’s healthcare crisis and turbulent oil sector - two topics of significant importance in Iraq.
Iraq’s healthcare has suffered immensely due to the violence in Iraq, but it has often been overlooked in the local and international press.
In Karbala, an IWPR reporter worked undercover - as many of our correspondents must do these days to get their story - to report on how the shortage of drugs, doctors and growing corruption is hindering healthcare in the Shia holy city.
Karbala and many other regions are facing shortages because doctors were among the first to leave Iraq; drugs smuggling is rife; and violence around Baghdad’s central medical warehouse hampers the transfer of drugs to the rest of the country.
While finishing off the story, the reporter, who asked not to be named for security reasons, had to flee Karbala for another region because the situation was increasingly volatile.
The reporter has been with IWPR Iraq for several years and says he values IWPR because it is a “hardworking organisation”.
“IWPR has taught me to seek truth and accuracy and to double check the information I receive,” he said. “And the people who know about IWPR feel comfortable talking to me when I say that I work for IWPR because they have confidence in the organisation.”
Despite being the country’s safest region, Iraqi Kurdistan’s infrastructure - from its water supply to road system - remains in a dire state.
An IWPR report revealed that a recent cholera outbreak was caused by the region’s decrepit water system. The Institute was among the first English-language news organisations to report that the disease had spread to the Kurdish capital of Erbil. It has since spread to Baghdad.
Our special report on the oil sector aimed to investigate what is happening with the country’s most important resource in various regions. Three reports covered the industry in the oil-rich regions of Kirkuk, Basra and Iraqi Kurdistan.
The investigative and analytical stories detailed not only the violence affecting oil production and distribution, but also how smuggling and theft is creating an oil shortage in Iraq. IWPR chose to highlight corruption and smuggling because they are two of the most serious issues affecting the industry, but are not widely covered.
