About 250 people die every day in Iraq because of the sanctions. Many of them are children.

UNICEF estimates that now 5,000 - 6,000 children die every month.

ESTIMATE (v) & (n): an estimate is an approximate figure, using the best information available.

Deaths of children under 5 years old: 1989 -1998

Other figures tell the same sad story:

The main reason for the births of low- weight babies (less than 2.5 kilos) is that the mothers do not have enough food when they are pregnant.

Many children go hungry, too.
Today, one in every four children in Iraq is malnourished.
That is an increase of 73% since 1991.

INFANT MORTALITY RATE: (n) the number of children out of every 1000 who die before they are 1 year old

MATERNAL MORTALITY RATE: (n) the number of women who die because of pregnancy or childbirth

MALNOURISHED (adj) someone who is malnourished does not get as much food as their body needs to grow and be healthy

Prices have shot up in Iraq, and wages have fallen very low.

In 1985, for example, an civil servant had a salary that was equal to about US$200 per month. Now the same person would earn about $2 per month

On the other hand, prices in July 1995 were 850 times higher than they were in 1990.

Each of these things costs the same as an average professional person earns in one month:

• 2 toothbrushes;
• 2 chickens;
• 1 medium-sized tin of milk-powder for a baby;
• 10 postcards;
• 4 kilos of rice;
• 4 cans of Pepsi;
• 1 kilo of tea;
• 1 lipstick;
• 4 Mars Bars/Snickers Bars

Things are worse for people in the towns and cities than for the farmers because the farmers can keep animals and grow their own food. In the towns most people have sold almost everything they had to buy food and medicines. You can still see people trying to sell the few things they have left: clothes, shoes, furniture, even their children's toys... but very few people have enough money to buy anything.

CIVIL SERVANT: (v) an administration worker in a government department

In May 1996, a UN Security Council Resolution allowed Iraq to sell a limited amount of oil in exchange for essential things like food. However, this plan has not provided very much help to the Iraqi people:

• Much of Iraq's oil pipelines and the infrastructure to transport the oil have been destroyed, so it cannot sell as much oil as it is allowed to:
  It was estimated that $500,000,000 of humanitarian aid did not reach Iraq because it did not sell enough oil. (UN Secretary General's report, Feb 1999)
• The price of oil goes up and down, and at times it has been very low;
• About 34% of the 'oil for food' money does not go to food for the Iraqi people.
  See the diagram below:

INFRASTRUCTURE: (n) systems that keep a country working, including things like roads & transportation

How the 'oil for food' money is divided up

COMPENSATION: (n) money you must pay to someone because you have harmed them