"العراق والخليج الفارسي" [و‎‎٢‎٦‎٨] (٨٦٢/٥٣٨)

PUBLIC HEALTH AND DISEASE
Year
1934
1 93 5
1936
1937
1938
1939
1940
Baghdad
Mosul
Basra
252
229
328
251
189
356
275
198
258
249
212
224
257
166
250
234
188
231
252
190
295
These high rates, four or five times higher than those of advanced
western countries, are comparable with those of most Asiatic towns of
similar size, and indicate very low standards of public health. The
rates in the villages and smaller towns are almost certainly higher.
The causes of the death of infants under 1 year of age in 1939 in the
same towns are tabulated below as percentages of the total deaths at
this age:
Cause of death
Baghdad
Mosul
Basra
Average
Marasmus .
29
65
15
36-3
Diarrhoea, &c.
20
9
19
160
Fever and Malaria
13
2
33
160
Premature birth .
14
6
16
12.0
Infectious diseases
5
3
6
4'7
Respiratory diseases
0
5
5
3'3
Other diseases
19
10
6
117
100
100
100
1000
General Mortality. The causes of death are available only for the
three large towns. Respiratory diseases head the list in Baghdad;
fever and malaria in Basra; intestinal diseases in Mosul. In the three
towns combined, over a period of nine years, 102,743 deaths were
recorded. The causes of those deaths, expressed as percentages of this
total were:
Intestinal diseases (inch marasmus)
20 2 per cent.
Respiratory diseases
192
y>
Premature birth and debility
9'5
yy
Fever and malaria
7-2
yy
Old age .....
69
yy
Tuberculosis ....
62
yy
Infectious diseases
59
yy
Heart diseases ....
5'9
yy
Accidents and violence
3 i
yy
Kidney diseases ....
22
yy
Nervous diseases.
IT
yy
All other causes ....
126
yy
100 0 per cent.
Morbidity. The number of patients treated at all institutions in
Iraq in 1939 was 3,496,945 as compared with 4,093,735 in 1938. Of