Global Policy Forum

By George Wright

A severe shortage of clean drinking water has left southern Iraq facing a mass cholera outbreak, the World Health Organisation warned today. Seventeen cases of the potentially fatal disease have already been identified in Basra, which is controlled by the British military. WHO experts believe that there are already at least 10 times that number of victims.

Iraqis unable to access clean water have been drinking filthy supplies contaminated with the bug. Poor security means that some victims have been unable to get to hospitals, with health workers unable to get out to treat them, WHO spokesman Ian Simpson said. Despite allied forces having had control of the area for around a month, there is still a shortage of vital drugs and intravenous fluids to treat victims. "The real concern is that the situation in Basra, with a real lack of safe water for the population and a lack of security at the moment, could lead to a rapid spread of something like cholera," Mr Simpson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"With a water supply which simply isn't functioning and isn't providing clean, safe water to most of the population, people are getting their water from completely unsafe sources. "With a lack of security, people are not able to come to hospitals - either patients or hospital workers - and are not able to get out on to the streets to provide the kind of public information work that is vital to prevent something like cholera from spreading. "It is virtually an endemic disease in Iraq, and this is the time of year one would expect to see cases," Mr Simpson added.

"We believe the situation is there for it to become a rather large outbreak, and we want to prevent that. The way to prevent it is to work really hard to ensure that security is there so that health workers and hospital workers can do their job and to get more supplies in. "There is a real shortage of intravenous fluids and intravenous needles needed to re-hydrate people who become dehydrated through cholera." However, Air Marshal Brian Burridge, the commander of British forces in the Iraq war, played down water problems in Basra. "I wonder how pressing that problem is," he said. "In the Basra area, 80% of the population now have running water, which is a greater proportion than ever before.

"The problem is that the infrastructure is in such poor shape that we lose vast amounts of water, lakes form and you can see fountains coming up through the pavements, because the place has been neglected for 25 years and Saddam used water as a weapon. "But Unicef are doing great work. They are building a pipeline up from the south. Militarily, we have done as much as we can with our expertise on that sort of infrastructure." The official spokesman for the prime minister, Tony Blair, said: "A small number of cases of cholera have been reported in Basra, and the World Health Organisation is working to contain the number of cases. "Clearly, given that is our area of operation, the UK military will be providing assistance."

FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.