Iraq's birth rate soars despite obstacles

[ECH1969]

Relentless fighting, spontaneous road closures and a nightly curfew are among mounting challenges expectant mothers and their families face.

Despite these obstacles, the birth rate in Iraq has increased since the U.S.-led invasion 43 months ago, according to the health ministry. In fact, the ministry found, the rate of births in the country has jumped from 29 per 1,000 in 2003 to 37 per 1,000 last year.

In neighboring Iran, the birth rate is 19 per 1,000, while the average birth rate in the Middle East is 25 per 1,000, according to the World Bank. The birth rate in the United States is about 14 per 1,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

As a result of the swelling birth rate in Baghdad's volatile environment, many physicians here also say they are performing more cesarean deliveries than ever.

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1162900644154610.xml&coll=2&thispage=2

[Quantess]

1. Looks like abstinence-only education has caught on!

;-)

[acmejack]

2. NO electricity!

The birthrate always goes up, isn't there always a surge statistically when there is a major blackout? They have had a five year long black out...

[soothsayer]

5. and curfews

[txindy]

11. And well-founded fear of leaving the (very slight) safety of the home.

Not that being anywhere in Iraq is safe in any way.

Oh, and the total unavailability of birth control (or any medical care to speak of) would do it, too.

I feel so awful for the babies born there, now. With so much depleted uranium around, their incidence of birth defects is no doubt higher than it had been after Gulf War I.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

3. I'll bet quick night runs to the pharmacy

are a thing of the past in Iraq. Birth control is hard to get!

Only half kidding. I'm glad they feel some sense of hope, because that's what having children is: faith in the future.

[theophilus]

4. The joy of sex and the miracle of birth are

destroying our planetary ecosystem.

[Samurai_Writer]

6. No birth control + civilian rapes = more births

Duh. I'm sure the kids born during this invasion will be so very grateful to the Bush regime. Not.

[NashVegas]

7. Yeah, Well There's Nothing to Do But Throw IEDs and Screw

What does anyone expect?

[enigma000]

8. How can you have a genocide if the population is increasing?

What is the death rate per 1,000? 12 or 13 if I recall........

[Javaman]

9. Just like upstate NY in the winter...

can't go out, not much to do, so the only thing to do is drink and screw.

Sorry for the tired old rhyme.

[moc]

10. Yeah, but what's their infant mortality rate?

The data I could pull up quickly states that in 2004, it was 102 per 1000 live births. For comparison, the US infant mortality rate hovers at 7 per 1000, and we've got the highes IMR in the developed world.

[Fierce]

12. Uh, is abortion legal in Iraq?

That often has something to do with it.

[rocktivity]

13. Um--they don't see a connection between the soaring birthrate

and the fact that Iraqis are dealing with "relentless fighting, spontaneous road closures and a nightly curfew"? Maybe the birthrate is soaring BECAUSE of the obstacles keeping Iraqis home at night. It soared nine months after the Great Blackout of 1965, too!

:headbang:
rocknation