A study of households carried out by the Iraqi government and the World Health Organisation (WHO) has found that 151,000 civilians died between March 2003, the beginning of the US invasion, and June 2006.

The results of the study were published on the Internet website of the New England Journal of Medicine on 10 January. Information had been collected from 9,345 households in up to 1,000 villages and neighbourhoods.

As reliable as possible in the midst of battle...

The researchers cautioned however, that despite the extensive survey, there was still a margin of uncertainty. The number of dead civilians could thus range between 104,000 and 223,000.

WHO statistics expert Muhammad Ali warned that it was quite difficult to collect data on the dead in a situation of armed conflict, and that the results had to be viewed with caution.

"However, combining certificates of death, reliable hospital registers and household surveys was the most reliable method."

WHO representative Naeema El Gasseer compared the findings of the research to others: "Our number is three times higher than that of the Iraq Body Count, which scans the media for deaths. On the other hand, it is four times lower than the result of a small-scale survey carried out in 2006."

Men die of violence 

According to the study,

• Since March 2003, the primary reason for death among men aged 15-59  is violence.
• In the first year of the invasion, an average of 128 Iraqis a day died of violence.
• In the second and third years, this average was 115 and 126 respectively. More than half of the deaths happen in Baghdad.

Minister of Health Mehdi Mutlab El-Hasanevi said, "For security reasons, some settlements could not be accessed. Many people have fled their homes because of the violence. These factors were also considered in the study in order to increase reliability."

In addition to statistics of death, the Iraqi Family Health Research also includes data on pregnancies, state of health, chronical illnesses, use of cigarettes, sexually transmitted diseases, domestic violence and expenditure on health.

Shocking increase in non-violent deaths 

The study seems to point to a sixty percent increase in non-violent deaths since the invasion.

The report further said that only 57 percent of women were aware of what AIDS was. This rate is 84 percent in Turkey, 91 percent in Morocco and 97 percent in Jordan. (EÜ/TK/AG)