Church Group Sends $1.2 Million to Iraq

Church World Service, the relief arm of the National Council of Churches, is shipping $1.2 million in medical supplies to Iraq to bolster the country’s debilitated health-care system.

In the chaotic aftermath of the war, Iraqi hospitals are operating at half their capacity, the United Nations reported last week.

As the U.S. military remains preoccupied with security and law enforcement, the burden of meeting the medical needs of Iraqis has fallen on humanitarian agencies, said the Rev. John McCullough, executive director of Church World Service.

Supported by 36 Protestant and Orthodox denominations, the group has been working to meet medical needs in Iraq since the start of the Gulf War more than a decade ago.

The lack of security for humanitarian and medical workers makes health services difficult to provide. Steve Weaver, the international disaster response consultant for the church group, said in a statement from Baghdad that “there is quite a lot of confusion still” keeping medical facilities from getting organized.