NZ group helping Iraqis in battle with deadly disease

The Iraq war may be officially over, but for a group of Iraqis with a deadly blood disorder, it is still a daily battle for survival, and a group of New Zealanders is helping them.

About 7 per cent of Iraqis carry the gene for thalassimea, for which sufferers need blood transfusions every three weeks and a daily injection.

The injection entails getting to the hospital - a life-threatening exercise in itself these days, with criminal gangs ruling the streets of Baghdad.

Auckland engineer Hassan Karhiy, who went on a fact-finding mission to Iraq with GP Ali Numan in April and May supported by the NZ Tear Fund, hopes to return soon with much-needed drugs and medical supplies.

The disease is usually fatal if not treated well. In the year before the war there was only one death but after it, 16 people died in a month.

"The problem with such a niche need is that ... even the UN or the Red Cross or the invasion forces are not prepared to deal with it," Mr Karhiy said.

The group has sourced a pill from India to replace the daily injections.

The shipment will include a large consignment of blood bags, which the Baghdad Blood Centre has run out of.

Patients now have to take their donor to the centre every week because it does not have fridges or power to keep blood. "Then the blood centre sends them to the market to buy a blood bag." Each bag costs the average Iraqi family wage for a day, and a family might have more than one child with the disease.

However, the NZ group can buy bags in India for 15c each.

It has raised $120,000 but needs $32,000 more.

- NZPA


Herald Feature: Iraq