One year after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic, Iraq’s health sector remains unable to adequately respond to the crisis. Iraq has struggled to deal with the COVID-19 emergency since the first case appeared in the country in late February 2020.[1] Weakened by more than three decades of conflict, international sanctions, corruption, […]

In August 2014, ISIS invaded the Yazidi villages of Sinjar in northern Iraq, killing, abducting, and “disappearing” thousands of Yazidi women, men, and children. Dr. Nagham Hasan, a Yazidi activist and gynecologist, has dedicated her life to the Yazidi cause and visits survivors of sexual enslavement and torture at the hands of ISIS in the […]

The COVID-19 virus has left its mark on all aspects of life, paralyzing entire countries, closing borders, and pushing the global economy to the brink of collapse. At a time when it is spreading across continents and exposing the weaknesses of health systems in the richest and most advanced countries, it is important to realize […]

Yazidi refugees celebrate news of the liberation of their homeland of Sinjar from ISIS in 2015. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images) I still remember it vividly. Just over three years ago, in August 2014, I woke up to the news that ISIS – also known as the Islamic State – had launched unprecedented, orchestrated attacks […]