New project to clean up capital and prevent skin diseases

A new project has started in the Iraqi capital to clean up rubbish dumps created in streets due to irregular collection, posing a health hazard, doctors say. “The project aims at cleaning areas of the capital in which rubbish has accumulated to the point where residents are worried about the possibility of an outbreak of disease,” said Maruan Ala’a, a senior Iraqi official. “We have to start thinking about projects that will improve the quality of life for all Iraqis,” he added. “It’s impossible to live in this district because the smell of open sewage and rubbish in the street,” Baghdad resident Madiha Ahmed said. The project is the first major attempt to clean up the capital since the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003. The suburbs are the worst affected and so will be cleared first. “We will start with the places that require urgent assistance like Sad’r, Batawen, Dora and Baghdad Ijidida districts,” Ala’a explained. Baghdad residents complain that many streets have been full of rubbish for weeks, releasing dismal odours that can be smelt hundreds of metres away. Doctors have already warned of the possibility of an increase in diseases caused by the rubbish strewn in the streets and reported cases of children falling ill due to contact with litter. “Since August, we have reported many cases of infections and skin diseases in children living in the suburbs. We found that the cause was that they were playing in dirty areas full of rubbish,” Dr Ibrahem Karam from Yarmouk hospital, noted. Residents are quick to note that, during Saddam Hussein’s rule, Iraqi cities, especially Baghdad, were seldom dirty with sanitation trucks regularly combing the streets. “Now, though, thousands of families living in the suburbs are suffering from the poor sanitation services offered by the government,” said Salah Abdul Kader, a teacher living in the Batawen area on the outskirts of the capital.