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Church World Service Sends $1.2 Million in Supplies to Iraq

July 2, 2003 Click to Visit Global News

Church World Service, one of the United Methodist Committee on Relief's ecumenical partners, is shipping $1.2 million in donated medical supplies to Iraq. With the United States focused on law and order and rebuilding efforts, "Church World Service is keeping front and center the extreme humanitarian and health conditions that many Iraqi people are still experiencing - especially the children," said the Rev. John McCullough, executive director of CWS and a United Methodist. The agency is based in New York.

Steve Weaver, CWS international disaster response consultant, is coordinating the medical supply shipment to Iraq via Jordan. The Lloyd A. Fry Foundation donated shipping funds for the supplies, which include surgical kits and sterile surgical components.

Speaking by phone from Baghdad, Weaver told CWS that humanitarian aid efforts continue even though the security situation is "not great." Nongovernmental organizations continue to serve as a lifeline, especially in the health sector, as the provisional authority struggles to get Iraq's public health system back up to full capacity.

CWS cited a United Nations report that Iraq's health care system is operating at no more than half of its capacity and that malnutrition among children has doubled in some parts of the country since the start of the war. In Baghdad, acute malnutrition rates had increased to 7.7 percent of children under five, reflecting an increase from 4 percent before the war.

"There is quite a lot of confusion still," Weaver said. Authorities "are not sure what medical supplies are in storage, and distribution systems have broken down."

In December 2002, CWS helped found the multi-agency "All Our Children" campaign for Iraqi children's health. The campaign, supported by the United Methodist Committee on Relief, has provided $264,000 in cash and $183,414 in in-kind aid for medicine, medical supplies, emergency food aid, blankets, wheelchairs and hygiene supplies for pediatric hospitals and clinics and to a program serving street children.

CWS said it expects a substantial portion of the $1.2 million in medical supplies to be distributed to pediatric hospitals in support of the All Our Children campaign.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is supporting the "All Our Children" campaign. One hundred percent of your tax-deductible gift to Advance #623225 "Iraq Emergency and earmarked for "All Our Children" will be used for this response. The generous giving of United Methodists to the One Great Hour of Sharing supplements the cost of Advance gifts. Give through a local United Methodist church or send financial contributions to: UMCOR, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Call 1-800-554-8583 to make a credit card donation.

This story was adapted from a Church World Service and United Methodist News Service press release.