Human costs of the Iraq –Iran war

War is one of the critical determinants of health status ofpopulation in many part of the world. Iraq- Iran war was thelongest conventional war of the 20th Century (Sep.1980 –Aug.1988) and caused hundreds of thousands deaths or injuredand billions of dollars cost. To illustrate a summary of the ballisticmissiles and chemical weapon attacks, Landmines and its effects,frequency of martyrs and injured survivors, distribution of theinjuries, we reviewed the published articles, Medical andEngineering Research Center (JMERC) and Veterans andMartyrs Affair Foundation (VMAF) database, and internationaldocumentation of United Nations Monitoring Verification &Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC).Total casualties on Iranian side registered in VMAF in 2018 is183,623 martyrs and 554,990 injured. Family of the martyrs andsurvivors who are alive and covered by VMAF are 2,763,175.War related Injuries included: spinal cord injuries 0.3%;unilateral and bilateral blindness 0.6%; upper and lower limbamputation 2.5%, burn injuries10.8%, chemical warfare exposure11.4% and psychological disorder 39.3%.In the 8 years, Iraqi fired 533 ballistic missiles at Iranianterritories. Cities were frequently attacked (414 missiles). Dezfulwas the first city which was attacked by three Iraqi ballisticmissiles in the first third week of the war. Twenty-seven citieswere struck and 2,312 civilians killed and 11,625 others injured.Despite international treaties, Iraq repeatedly used chemicalweapons such as sulfur mustard and nerve agents (Tabun andSarin) against Iranians (1983-1988). These attacked were againstmilitary personal and civilians. The heaviest chemical attack onthe civilian reported in Sardasht city and Oshnavieh (Zardeh andNesar Direh villages) (1987). More than 1 million exposed to chemical weapon attacks. Of these about 100,000 evacuated fromfrontline and received medical care at the time of exposure. Today63,417 chemical warfare survivors suffer from chronic healthconditions. Chronic chemical warfare injuries are mostly mild97.3%, then moderate 2.2% and less than one percent is severe.The most commonly affected organs are lungs (39.1%), eyes(30.8%) and skin (30.1%).During the war, 12 to 16 million landmines were planted across42,000 square kilometers of Iran’s West and Southwesternborders (Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Ilam andKhuzestan) by Iraq. Landmine and UXOS are still a major threatto the safety of civilians and children in the border of the Iran-Iraq. 41.1% of the injured are children under the age of 18.After more than 3 decades, the survivors and their family sufferfrom chronic health/ problems and still need physical, mental andsocial health support.