Mercy Corps back at it in Iraq (NW snubs *bush)

[Nambe]

Mercy Corps, after rebuffing an attempt by the Bush administration to restrict its independence in southern Iraq, is launching a $7 million, federally funded program to repair communities and build democracy.

At the same time, Northwest Medical Teams, already addressing health problems in northern Iraq, is preparing to dispatch its fifth squad of volunteers. ---

The $525,000 that Mercy Corps raised despite the slow economy allowed for a quick deployment of relief workers to Iraq. The individual donations helped attract the U.S. Agency for International Development, the federal department funding the $7 million program. AID may double the grant to $14 million.

Northwest Medical Teams also worked aggressively to get its volunteer medical workers into Iraq before other organizations. Members of its fourth team arrived recently in a town near Irbil with an endoscope, an internal- examination instrument that the local hospital lacked.

"In the first five cases, they diagnosed a rectal cancer, a colonic tumor and an ulcerative colitis," said Barbara Agnew, a Northwest Medical Teams spokeswoman. "What we're finding is that Iraqis have had no help, whether in medical supplies or training or support, in over a decade." ---


Children's Environmental Health Under the Bush Administration