Press Release

Iraq: 6 years of work to support women's health
The Italian NGO Un Ponte Per closes its long health support programme financed by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS). The health centres opened will be transferred to the local authorities.

Rome, 6 February 2024 - Six years of work, more than 30 thousand people reached, an average of 15 patients per day visited, a health centre and a maternity ward that did not exist before made operational, 4 primary health centres and 5 hospitals supported: these are some of the numbers of "Salamtak" (in Arabic "Your Health"), the long programme of support to mental and reproductive health carried out in Iraq by the NGO Un Ponte Per (UPP), thanks to the support of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) . Operating in particular in the Nineveh Plain, between Mosul and Bashiqa, the programme has been operating in one of the most complex areas of the country, affected by the devastating effects of the war and the long occupation by Daesh (Islamic State).

Six years of work and a shared journey with the local population, which has seen the construction of health centres where none previously existed, the rehabilitation of existing ones, the training of specialised personnel and the raising of community awareness on the right to physical and psychological health.

Iraqi women and girls still face many obstacles when it comes to accessing sexual and reproductive health and rights. The people who have been received are on average between 13 and 65 years old and have approached the Centres for Pregnancy at Risk, Maternity Services and Maternal and Infant Care opened in the Nineveh Plain. The highest number of admissions recorded were young women between the ages of 18 and 34.

The maternity ward in the primary health centre in Hammam Al Alil, south of Mosul, was also reactivated, offering essential services such as antenatal and postnatal care, as well as educational programmes covering family planning and breastfeeding. The unit also ensures 2-3 safe deliveries per day and provides an average of 250 consultations per month to women and their babies. The facility serves over 39 villages, totalling approximately 120,000 people.

But "Salamtak" also supported the only public hospital in the Nineveh governorate that cares for burn patients, the Al Hurok Hospital in Mosul. There, UPP equipped two emergency rooms, inaugurated a few days before the terrible accident that hit the city of Qaraqosh in September 2023, which were thus able to be operational to respond to that emergency.

In the last phase of the project, which ended in December 2023, we teamed up with partner Solidarités International, whose intervention exceeded the objectives of rehabilitating water infrastructure, medical waste treatment and sanitation in five health centres in Mosul. Access to drinking water and sanitation services has been improved and medical waste treatment facilities upgraded. The project, which benefited over 5,000 people, was also complemented by educational workshops for male and female students on good hygiene practices and technical training for health personnel.

The work has always been carried out in cooperation with the local authorities, and in particular with the Directorate of Health in Nineveh, which UPP has accompanied to address structural deficiencies and the lack of trained personnel.

The local authorities will now be given the management of the health centres and the infrastructures that have been built and rehabilitated, providing them with the necessary support to ensure their operation and the presence of highly trained staff.