Rebuilding Iraq: HHS active in rebuilding health care infrastructure

January 27, 2003 - President Bush and Secretary Thompson are committed to improving the health of the Iraqi people. To assist the people of Iraq in rebuilding their health care system that was neglected for decades, HHS expertise and resources have been mobilized. Dedicated HHS personnel have volunteered to serve in Iraq under hazardous and trying conditions. HHS's work in Iraq is coordinated by the Office of Global Health Affairs (OGHA), which works with officials from the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and the Iraqi Ministry of Health.

Rear Admiral Craig Vanderwagen, of the Health Service, recently returned after four months as the Chief of Medicine in Baghdad. He had been working with the CPA and the Ministry of Health to improve health care in Iraq by providing expert guidance on the rebuilding of the health care infrastructure, promoting primary care, preventive oral health, as well as maternal and child health. Captain Richard Niska, of Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), will begin work as RADM Vanderwagen's replacement in January.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working with the CPA and the Ministry of Health to design and develop a nation-wide, computer-based disease surveillance system that will allow the Iraq Ministry Of Health to improve targeting of resources based on evidence. Diane Simpson, of the CDC, has been in Iraq as a Colonel in the Army Reserves coordinating this program. Her tour in the reserves has ended but she is returning to continue her work through the CDC.

Much of the laboratory systems within Iraq were badly looted and were poorly equipped under Saddam Hussein's regime. LCMD Daniel Hesselgesser, a laboratorian, returned to the US in September after spending several months in Baghdad providing technical expertise in the rebuilding of the laboratory infrastructure. CMD David Kvamme, a laboratorian from the Indian Health Service, is presently in Iraq continuing the work on the laboratory systems.

The National Cancer Institute is building on its long-standing partnership with the King Hussein Cancer Hospital in Jordan to treat Iraqi children suffering from cancer. Cancer patients are presently being treated in Jordan, but these programs are working hard to create the capacity to treat cancer within Iraq, in particular, pediatric cancers.

HHS is also responding to the urgent need for expertise in the area of pharmaceutical control. Alicia Mozzachio, a pharmacist from the Food and Drug Administration, will be in Iraq soon to develop formularies and a system for warehousing pharmaceuticals.

There are very few trained mental health providers within Iraq. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is working with the Ministry of Health and the CPA to develop a plan to address the mental health needs of the Iraqi people.

Last revised: August 17, 2007