Iraq: time to focus our response.

Over the last few months a strong and steady expression of alarm about the humanitarian consequences of conflict in Iraq has come from the medical profession. 3 The latest report on the health impact of war in the Gulf has come from the WHO, and is a graphic illustration of the need for concern. Deterioration of public utilities, transport, and health infrastructures over the last twelve years has resulted in the vulnerability of the Iraqi people being much higher now than at the start of the 1991 Gulf war. Expected mortality rate estimate ranges from 48,000 to 261,000 for just the first three months after conflict. The need for massive humanitarian intervention in Iraq is well established. The detail of what that humanitarian action will be is much less clear.