Health and Displacement: A Comparative Analysis of Displaced Iraqis’ Access to Reproductive Health Services in Iran Jordan

Currently, 60,000 Iraqis are forced to flee their homes every month (IRIN, 2007). And yet, very few public officials, media sources, or activists have seriously discussed issues confronting the nearly four million Iraqis that have either been displaced internally or forced to leave the country altogether. As the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, stated, “Iraq is the world’s best-known conflict but the least wellknown humanitarian crisis.”1 Furthermore, the little attention that is given in the media or in policy circles almost exclusively focuses on the plight of Iraqi refugees in Jordan and Syria, where they total nearly 1.5 million. Almost nothing is known of their status in neighboring Iran, which prior to the invasion hosted the largest Iraqi refugee population in the world. Nearly 80 percent of the displaced Iraqis in Iran are women and girls. Like their counterparts in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt, they are traumatized both physically and mentally. Not only are many of them victims of the sectarian violence that forced them to fled their homes, but they are also victims of domestic abuse by husbands and other male relatives, rape, physical and emotional harassment from religious militias, and abuse by border and security personnel. Furthermore, many of the women entering Iran are pregnant, nursing, or have small children, yet have not seen a doctor or any medical professional in months or even years. The combination of these factors and the relative desperation of the displaced Iraqis create a dangerous situation for women and girls