Iraq

In 2005, AmeriCares began providing ongoing humanitarian aid to Iraq. Since then, quarterly shipments are made to our local partner LIFE for Relief and Development (LRD).  Our efforts support eight hospitals and clinics throughout the country. 

AmeriCares began working with LRD in 2003, in response to urgent medical and other relief needs brought about by the war.  As soon as security allowed, AmeriCares sent emergency airlifts to Kirkuk and Baghdad, both of which were the first such airlifts by a U.S. non governmental organization. Other air and land shipments by AmeriCares followed, delivering more than $8.3 million of medicines and medical supplies.

In April 1998, AmeriCares airlifted medicines and medical supplies to Iraq in response to severe medical and food shortages. The majority of those supplies were geared toward the medical and nutritional needs of children. Our partner then, The Iraqi Red Crescent, Society distributed the supplies among a network of hospitals, clinics, health centers and orphanages.

During the Gulf War in 1990, AmeriCares responded to a mass exodus of Kurdish refugees by sending seven air shipments and three sea shipments including blankets, bandages, medicines, medical supplies, nutritional supplements and personal hygiene products. These relief supplies were delivered to our local partner, The Iranian Red Crescent Society, where they facilitated the distribution of these supplies. More than one million Kurds poured over the Iraqi-Iranian border seeking refuge in Iran and eventually settled among a vast network of 56 different refugee camps.