One in four Iraqis on hand-outs
/One in four Iraqis is dependent on food rations to
survive, and many sell what little they have to buy basic necessities
such as medicine and clothes. In a grim report underscoring troubles in
Iraq, the Rome-based UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday that
support from the state-run Public Distribution System was grossly
insufficient to prevent chronic malnourishment. "The political
environment before the war made it impossible to analyse the level of
poverty and hunger in the country," said Torben Due, the director of
the WFP's programme in Iraq. "For the first time, we are getting an
accurate picture of people's access to food," he said in a statement.
Squarely blaming the situation on years of international sanctions and
war, the WFP said about 6.5 million Iraqis, or about 25% of the
population, were "highly dependent on food rations and therefore
vulnerable". Of those 6.5 million, 2.6 million resell part of their
rations to buy other items, including medicine. [more 
and [more ]
and [more ]- UN survey shows high prevalence of food insecurity in Iraq [more ]
