ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE | Oct. 19, 2021
The Pattern of COVID-19 Disease in Iraq during the Year 2020
Aamir Jalal Al-Mosawi
Page no 127-134 |
10.36348/sijap.2021.v04i09.001
Background: The year 2020 witnessed the rapid spread of covid-19 pandemic in Iraq and in almost all the countries in the world. This spread has created a serious health crises and a public health emergency in Iraq and throughout the world. Little is known about the pattern of covid-19 disease in Iraq. The aim of this paper is provide a description an overview of the pattern of covid-19 disease in Iraq. Materials and methods: The available unpublished and published data about covid-19 disease in Iraq during the year 2020 reviewed including the demographic data relevant to covid-19 pandemic in Iraq. Some relevant data for three provinces (The Kurdish provinces in the north of Iraq) of the eighteen provinces in Iraq were not available in English or Arabic. Results: The population of Iraq in 2020 was estimate at 40.150.174 (20.284.823 males and 19.865.351). During the year 2020, 595291 cases of covid-19 disease were registered by the Iraqi Ministry of Health, 12813 (2.15%) patients died and 537841 (90.3%) patients experienced recovery. 7680 (1.4%) of the covid-19 disease in Iraq during the year 2020 were under the age of ten years, and therefore this age group was the least to be affected with covid-19 disease in this study. 133176 (23.9%) of the covid-19 disease in Iraq during the year 2020 aged between 30 and 39 years, and therefore this age group was the most affected with covid-19. During the year 2020, 173928 individuals died in Iraq including 12813 deaths because of covid-19 disease which accounted for 7.36% of the total deaths in Iraq during the year 2020. Covid-19 resulted in a death rate of 33/ 100000 population in Iraq during the year 2020. 117 (0.9%) of the patients who died because of covid-19 disease in Iraq during the year 2020 were under the age of ten years, and therefore patients in this age group are the least likely to died from covid-19 disease. 2418 (18.9%) of the patients who died because of covid-19 disease aged 50 to 59 years. Therefore, according to this study, patients in this age group are the most likely to die from covid-19 disease. Conclusion: Covid-19 disease in Iraq was associated with a significant mortality during the year 2020. It actually changed the previously reported national mortality pattern as covid-19 has become the second most common cause of death in Iraq. Contradictory, to the general belief that mortality associated with covid-19 was generally restricted to the older age groups, 117 children under the age of ten years died because of covid-19 disease. This number of childhood suggests the need to consider vaccination of the younger age groups and to perform the relevant research.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE | Oct. 19, 2021
The Pattern of Notifiable Infectious Diseases in Iraq
Aamir Jalal Al-Mosawi
Page no 135-152 |
10.36348/sijap.2021.v04i09.002
Background: The year 2020 witnessed the emergence of covid-19 disease as a new notifiable infectious disease in Iraq and throughout the world. Little is known about the pattern of notifiable infectious diseases in Iraq during the first year of covid-19 pandemic. The aim of this paper is provide a description of the pattern of notifiable infectious diseases in Iraq during the year 2020, the first year of covid-19 global pandemic. Materials and methods: The available unpublished and published data including official documents and reports of health authorities about notifiable infectious disease in Iraq in 2020 were reviwed. Results: The population of Iraq in 2020 was estimated at 40.150.174 (20.284.823 males and 19.865.351 females). A total of 718393 cases of notifiable infectious disease including covid-19 disease were registered in Iraq in 2020. During the year 2020, 595291 cases of covid-19 disease were registered by the national and local health authorities in Iraq, while there were 123102 patients with notifiable infectious diseases other than covid-19 disease registered. Therefore, the registered cases of covid-19 disease was about 4.8 times more than the number of all notifiable infectious disease registered in Iraq during the year 2020. Scabies was the second most common notifiable disease after covid-19, and accounted for 6% of all notifiable infectious disease in Iraq in 2020. Chicken pox was the third most common notifiable disease, and accounted for 1.7%. Cutaneous leishmaniasis was the fourth most common notifiable disease and accounted for 1.1%, while tuberculosis, the fifth common notifiable disease accounted for 0.7%. Conclusion: Notifiable infectious diseases in Iraq were associated with a significant mortality during the year 2020, and that was because of the emergence of covid-19 disease as a new notifiable infectious diseases. Covid-19 disease, the most common notifiable infectious disease in 2020 changed the previously reported national mortality pattern. Contradictory, to the general belief that mortality associated with covid-19 disease was generally restricted to the older age groups, 117 children under the age of ten years died because of covid-19 disease in 2020. This number of childhood deaths suggests the need to consider vaccination of the younger age groups and to perform the relevant research.