Inclusion Daily Express -- Iraqi Official Reluctantly Speaks About Children's Deadly Illnesses

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Iraqi Official Reluctantly Speaks About Children's Deadly Illnesses
November 15, 2007

BAGHDAD, IRAQ--Thursday's New York Times reported briefly that 13 children with disabilities from the Al Hanan Home for the Severely Handicapped were hospitalized last weekend for serious diarrhea and dehydration.

An official with the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs acknowledged that one child died from illness, but could not confirm whether the illness was cholera, enteritis, or another infection. Eight of the surviving twelve children, ages 6 to 15, had been released by Wednesday.

That official reportedly spoke on condition of anonymity, saying that she feared she would be fired if top government officials knew she had talked to the press. She said the ministry ordered its employees to "only speak about good news", in the same way it did last summer when some children at the facility were being starved and abused.

A professor at a Baghdad medical school explained that children with disabilities typically have low resistance to germs. He added that conditions at government-run facilities had deteriorated.

Related:
"Disabilities And The 'War On Terror'" (Inclusion Daily Express Archives)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/war.htm

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