Baghdad/Geneva (ICRC) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has supplied three medical facilities in Baghdad with trauma kits over the last four days to help medical staff treat those injured in ongoing protests.

Sheikh Zayed and Al-Kindi hospitals, and Medical City received enough drugs and material to treat between 200 and 300 injured people, depending on the severity of their wounds.

“We call on all to show restraint in the ongoing protests and to allow health personnel to carry out their work unobstructed and in safety; the alternative is unthinkable for a population already weary and in need,” said Katharina Ritz, ICRC’s head of delegation in Iraq.

“Countries and communities emerging from conflict have immense humanitarian needs, as we see in Iraq and elsewhere. The suffering and hardship that people endure doesn’t stop with an end to combat operations. We are aware of that and continue to help Iraqis throughout the country every day,” said Fabrizio Carboni, ICRC’s director for the Near and Middle East.

In Iraq, the ICRC remains committed to helping fragile communities recover from years of violence and devastation. It supports 17 primary health care centres and two hospitals to improve their capacity to tend to the sick and injured, at which more than 170,000 consultations were performed in the first half of 2019. The ICRC also helps improve infrastructure damaged by conflict; more than 1.3 million Iraqis have better access to safe drinking water after the ICRC rehabilitated 14 water supply systems in the country from January to June 2019.

For further information, please contact:
Ruth HETHERINGTON, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41227302627, rhetherington@icrc.org