Iraq

Axes of intervention

Building and equipping hospitals

Start date: 2019

As Iraq struggles to overcome the after-effects of war, La Chaîne de l'Espoir is mobilizing to improve access to healthcare, through the construction of a hospital in Sinjar and the rehabilitation of a medical and research center in Mosul.

Background

The humanitarian emergency in Iraq

1.7 million

of people do not have access to an acceptable level of care.

2.2 million

people need humanitarian aid, including 1.3 million children.

4.4 million

displaced people have returned to their homes since the fall of the “caliphate”.

Sources: OCHA (2022 figures), IOM (2022 figures)

Iraq continues to recover from the scars left by years of control by the Islamic State (EI), whose caliphate was proclaimed in 2014, and the fighting for its downfall in 2019. This period of violence has severely disrupted access to essential services, particularly the healthcare system. The destruction of infrastructure, shortages of medicines and medical equipment, and the flight of professionals and lack of training have created a critical health vacuum. In addition, massive population displacements have put pressure on an already fragile system.

In 2022, around 1.7 million people were still deprived of satisfactory access to healthcare in Iraq. Despite a significant improvement in the humanitarian situation since the end of the EI caliphate, millions of people remain vulnerable, particularly women with families and children. The challenges of climate change, exacerbating water shortages and extreme weather events, further complicate recovery.

Today, medical structures, damaged during the conflicts, remain largely non-operational, preventing access to quality healthcare. In addition, the closure of refugee camps has reduced access to essential services, leaving populations in an alarmingly precarious situation.

Faced with this reality, as populations and families gradually return to their homes, there is an urgent need for healthcare structures. It is in this context that La Chaîne de l’Espoir is intervening by building and equipping the Sinjar French Medical Center (SFMC) and by contributing to the operational restoration of the Medical and Research Center (MRCC) at the University of Mosul, two essential actions to ensure access to healthcare for millions of Iraqis.

Our humanitarian aid work in Iraq

Building and equipping the French Medical Center in Sinjar (SFMC)

Since the horror of the genocide perpetrated by Daesh in Sinjar in 2014, the majority of the Yezidi community, an ethno-religious minority, still lives in camps for the displaced. Sinjar, a town in northeastern Iraq, has seen its infrastructure, including its hospital as well as the majority of health centers, wiped out. Faced with this crisis, La Chaîne de l’Espoir has initiated a vital project in Iraq in 2019: the construction of the Sinjar French Medical Center (SFMC). This is being carried out in partnership with the Iraqi Ministry of Health and with the support of Nadia’s Initiative, thanks to funding from the Crisis and Support Center of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Madad European Fund.

The opening of this medical center in 2024 represents hope for the development of quality healthcare in Iraq, and more specifically in the Sinjar district. It is also a decisive factor in encouraging people to return, as 123,500 internally displaced persons from Sinjar had returned to the region by April 2023 (according to the IOM). The new hospital, with 27 beds and 31 outpatient places, will offer primary, emergency and intensive care for adults, obstetric care for women, as well as specialized care for mothers and children. Services will include, among others, outpatient consultations, radiology, laboratory, emergency, gynecology and obstetrics, surgery, and inpatient services.

Once the work has been completed, the center equipped and the medical teams trained, La Chaîne de l’Espoir plans to hand over full management of the hospital to the Ministry of Health.

Find out more about the project to build and equip the French Medical Center in Sinjar (SFMC)

Read our Grand Projet

“The hospital was designed to be a facility of excellence, offering care to European standards, following the requirements of the ISO9001 quality management plan.”

Ghassan Raoof Riyadh, infrastructure engineer in Sinjar for La Chaîne de l’Espoir

Mosul University Medical and Research Center (MRCC) restored to operational condition

In eastern Sinjar, La Chaîne de l’Espoir is also providing technical assistance for the rehabilitation of the University of Mosul’s Medical Care and Research Center (MRCC). Built and delivered in 2014, shortly before the Islamic State entered Mosul, the MRCC had since fallen into disrepair. With Expertise France and the Agence Française de Développement, and in close collaboration with the Iraqi authorities, La Chaîne de l’Espoir is contributing its expertise in particular to the opening of a consultation and haemodialysis clinic, the laboratory, medical imaging, outpatient cardiology, neurophysiology, endoscopy and urology services, as well as the commissioning of the MRI, a chemotherapy room and a radiotherapy department.

Mosul University Medical Center for Care and Research

The MRCC, located on the University of Mosul campus, was designed to be an advanced medical referral and research center for Nineveh and neighboring governorates. Its infrastructure, spread over some 15,000 m², comprises seven self-contained two-storey buildings, each dedicated to a medical specialty.

The rehabilitation of the MRCC is of paramount importance. The majority of public hospitals in Mosul were severely damaged during the Islamic State’s occupation of the city. Since then, health services have been lacking to meet the needs of the population. The MRCC has the potential to significantly improve the quality and accessibility of healthcare services in Nineveh governorate, while strengthening the medical training and research capabilities of Mosul University.

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