" Aladdin's Magic Lamp - Help for Cancer-Stricken Children in Basra."

 A project to assist the children's cancer ward of the Ibn Ghazwan Mother-Child Hospital in Basra

 "Aladdin's Magic Lamp" shines for sick children in Basra in Southern Iraq, especially for the cancer-stricken children of this region. Abused by politics and forgotten by the world, these children have for years died an unspectacular, quiet and painful death. The majority of the children died within a few weeks after having been diagnosed with leukemia, the others within the next three months. None of the children was able to survive, while in Central Europe up to 90% of children with leukemia can be cured. In 1990 fifteen children in the region of Basra fell ill with leukemia, in 2002 there were 192 children. And while in Austria medical equipment was being readied to give these children a chance to survive, the dying continued, because the importation of this equipment was prohibited by pitiless sanctions regulations. The following war left its imprint on a sorely tested land and has not improved the situation. On the contrary the state of medical services in the hospitals of Basra in November 2003 is worse than ever.

 Leukemia - no longer a death sentence

 The cancer ward for children at the Ibn Ghazwa Mother-Child Hospital is the only exception: There, despite all the difficulties, we were able to make many changes to the good, thanks to the help from innumerable donors in Germany and Austria. I was in Iraq six times in 2003 and every time it was possible to continue the expansion of the children's ward. The continuing supply of medications has been assured by us for a year now, which has resulted in the reduction of the mortality rate of the leukemia-stricken children from 100% to 40% within this year. From a medical point of view, this is an outstanding success, which pleases us greatly.

 Tropical illness "Kala Azar"

 However our assistance is not only for the cancer-stricken children. In the course of our work our attention was drawn to an other grave problem: Thousands of Iraqi children have died during the last few years of the tropical illness "Kala Azar", an illness, which occurs in the poor areas of our world and which, unless treated, inevitably leads to death. The medicine, however, which could have cured 100% of these children did not exist in Iraq. And here too it was possible for us to help. There are about 1500 children, who, through our help, could be cured of this illness in 2003.

 Treatment in Austria

 Our principle is: Sick children should be treated in their home countries, whenever possible. There are, however, illnesses which under present circumstances cannot be treated in Iraq, because the necessary medical equipment, or medical techniques are lacking. That is our third target: For months we wanted to bring a few children to Austria, for whom there is no possibility for treatment in Iraq. We fought for this possibility for months and it has now become reality. In November 2003 four sick children came with us to Austria to get well here. One of the children, who was going to come with us did not live to see this moment. Alaa, 9 years old, died in September of this year. One of the innumerable victims of this war.

 Education of Iraqi physicians in Austria

 Repeatedly we were able to give Iraqi medical specialists opportunities to rebalance the deficiency of knowledge, which resulted from being isolated from the advances in medicine by the sanctions. Two- to three-month training courses in Austrian hospitals provided the female and male physicians not only with specialized knowledge, but also with much stimulation for the general improvement of conditions in Iraqi hospitals. Prof.Dr.Jenan Ghalib Hassan, the head of the children's cancer ward in Basra, also came to the St. Anna Children's Hospital in Vienna for training. The knowledge of the physicians who trained here benefits innumerable patients.

 We hope that "Aladdin's Magic Lamp" can continue to shine, can continue to give hope and life to sick children - as long as our help is needed in Basra. The fear is that it will be for a long time. But for that long we want to continue to work - together with the supporters of this project - on the reconciliation between cultures and religions and we want to contribute to peace in a land that hardly knows peace and whose people have lost hope and the will to live.   

 Dr.Eva-Maria HOBIGER