Iraq

Dr. Abbas Finds Physical Distancing a Real Challenge in Iraq to Fight COVID-19

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   on their situation. In our conversation with the President of the IRCS,
   Dr. Yaseen Abbas, we talked about how Iraqis are dealing with the
   pandemic, which hasn’t changed much of their behavior and social
   culture although it caused them to lose their livelihood and revealed
   the depth of the economic and social crisis inflicting on the country.
   Dr. Abbas stressed the need to strengthen Disaster Risk Reduction and
   Management to protect the population and keep and attract the local and
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   their families’ and would find breaking this ban as their only option.

   The second and more important point in my opinion is the physical
   distancing during social event. The social celebrations didn’t stop at
   all, namely “Majalid Al-Aza’a” (Mourning Gatherings). It is an occasion
   where come together the parents, relatives, friends, locals, and
   everyone who had known the deceased. They crowd in pavilions, mosques,
   and halls for three days as per the customs in Iraq. Social distancing
   was not practiced as well as the physical distancing in such occasions.
   Shaking hands, and even hugging, continued. Besides, visits during the
   curfew did not ease if not increased due to work suspension, and the
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   Learning plays a crucial and direct role in the process of accepting
   and perceiving information. But nowadays, we notice a lot of confusion
   circulating through the social media. Unfortunately, part of the
   confusion is coming from highly educated people.

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   manifestation of COVID-19 fatigue.

   Prior to COVID-19, Iraq was still struggling with social, economic, and
   political crisis. How the unfavourable impact of the virus reflected in
   the whole situation of the country?
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   From the beginning, we realized that our affiliates should follow three
   simple steps: cleaning the hands, wearing a mask, and social
   distancing. So we have made clear decisions to reduce the number of
   people in the offices, limit the numbers within the field teams, and in
   a clear educational method, stress on the importance of taking the
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   succeeded to a great extent in preventing the infections inside and
   through our activities and in our institutions. But this did not spare
   our staff and volunteers from getting infected by their social
   interactions, in one way or another, with their families and other
   members of society. There have been cases, but I believe that 99
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   Are you still capable of providing the Society’s regular services on a
   daily basis (for instance, the ambulatory services, the psycho-social
   support, etc…) although COVID-19 has been on the top priority of the
   service list?

   The psycho-social support is currently a continuing service, namely for
   the patients, their families, the medical and health cadres who have
   started to suffer from exhaustion and anxiety too. We offer the First
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       Contact us.

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