'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎267v] (537/862)

PUBLIC HEALTH AND DISEASE
410
The number of dispensaries has increased greatly in recent years,
and they now exist in all villages which are the centres of qadhas
and nahiyas, and in many others, with either a doctor, a sanitary
official, or a trained dresser in charge. The extension of the health
services since 1935 has been one of the main achievements of the
State’s Five Year Plan (p. 303), the number of hospital beds alone
having doubled in this period.
There is a maritime quarantine station at Fao and three land
quarantine stations—at Khanaqin and Baquba for the Persian
frontier, and at Ramadi for the Syrian. The two modern airports
at Baghdad and Basra are equipped as sanitary aerodromes in
accordance with the stipulations of the International Convention.
Progress. Successful attempts to diminish the prevalence of in
fectious diseases prompted the Government in 1935 to initiate a five-
year health plan. The salient features were: (1) to raise the standard
of medical education; (2) to develop nursing and midwifery services;
(3) to increase the number of beds in hospitals by 500 a year; (4) to
raise the number of fixed and mobile dispensaries to not less than 200
(4 dispensaries for each qadha); (5) to found two institutions for the
treatment of tuberculosis and one for leprosy; (6) to provide hospital
accommodation for infectious diseases at provincial capitals; (7) to
establish health stations at frontier posts; (8) to intensify the campaigns
against venereal disease, malaria, and intestinal infections; (9) to pro
vide safer drinking-water; (10) to enforce the anti-plague measures in
Baghdad; and (11) to endeavour to reduce the high infant mortality
rates.
Vital Statistics
The annual Statistical Abstract of the Government of Iraq contains
much information concerning the incidence of diseases, but it contains
little about vital statistics. The section devoted to this subject is pre
faced with the remark, ‘All figures relating to vital statistics are only
those which are officially registered by the authorities. A great deal
escapes registration for which no estimates are yet available.’ Births,
infant mortality rates, and the causes of death in the three chief towns
are tabulated, but in the absence of information elsewhere it is im
possible to calculate birth-rates or crude death-rates. Both are high.
Infant Mortality. The death-rates of infants under 1 year of age
per 1,000 births in Baghdad, Mosul, and Basra for 7 recent years
were: