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Interview With Thomas McDermott
Aired March 26, 2003 - 14:56 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's move from the military situation to the humanitarian situation in Iraq, particularly the plight of Iraqi children.
Joining us now from Amman, Jordan to talk about that and more is Thomas McDermott. He's Unisex's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Thanks, Mr. McDermott, for joining us. How bad is the situation, from your vantage point, right now?
THOMAS MCDERMOTT, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, UNICEF: Well, it's very bad now and, of course, it could get a lot worse. And we should keep in mind that the situation of children in Iraq was already quite difficult even before the war began, one in eight of Iraqi children dying before the age of 5.
That situation has clearly gotten a lot worse, as kids come under fire and the nightly and daily bombardment of the cities remains a major concern for psychological health in the future.
BLITZER: What is UNICEF doing now? What can UNICEF do in the middle of a war situation?
MCDERMOTT: It's very difficult. We have to keep in mind we still have over 200 staff in the country. They're showing up for work every day, and they're going out to do missions such as they can.
In the North, of course, it's a lot easier to move. There, we're particularly concerned with movement of internally displaced people. There has been some return to the cities in recent days, but there are still a lot of people out there.
We've been doing immunization with those children. We've also been distributing emergency supplies where needed. We had a lot of diarrhea break out in one area near Sulaymaniyah. We had to bring in oral rehydration salts for that.
In the South, of course, we are very concerned with the situation in Basra. We've been working in close partnership with our partners, the International Committee, the Red Cross and CARE International in trying to get water supply throughout the country able to continue running, putting in generators and repairing those generators that are there. And, of course, we're having our teams go out even in Baghdad and places like Karbala to visit child institutions and deliver food supplies and emergency supplies that they -- to help them get through this period of bombardment.
BLITZER: Thomas McDermott of UNICEF -- thanks very much for joining us. I know you guys are going to be incredibly busy over the coming days and weeks. Good luck to all of you trying to help Iraqi children in the midst of a war, never a pleasant situation to begin with.
We have much more coverage of the war in Iraq coming up. Stay with CNN.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired March 26, 2003 - 14:56 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's move from the military situation to the humanitarian situation in Iraq, particularly the plight of Iraqi children.
Joining us now from Amman, Jordan to talk about that and more is Thomas McDermott. He's Unisex's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Thanks, Mr. McDermott, for joining us. How bad is the situation, from your vantage point, right now?
THOMAS MCDERMOTT, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, UNICEF: Well, it's very bad now and, of course, it could get a lot worse. And we should keep in mind that the situation of children in Iraq was already quite difficult even before the war began, one in eight of Iraqi children dying before the age of 5.
That situation has clearly gotten a lot worse, as kids come under fire and the nightly and daily bombardment of the cities remains a major concern for psychological health in the future.
BLITZER: What is UNICEF doing now? What can UNICEF do in the middle of a war situation?
MCDERMOTT: It's very difficult. We have to keep in mind we still have over 200 staff in the country. They're showing up for work every day, and they're going out to do missions such as they can.
In the North, of course, it's a lot easier to move. There, we're particularly concerned with movement of internally displaced people. There has been some return to the cities in recent days, but there are still a lot of people out there.
We've been doing immunization with those children. We've also been distributing emergency supplies where needed. We had a lot of diarrhea break out in one area near Sulaymaniyah. We had to bring in oral rehydration salts for that.
In the South, of course, we are very concerned with the situation in Basra. We've been working in close partnership with our partners, the International Committee, the Red Cross and CARE International in trying to get water supply throughout the country able to continue running, putting in generators and repairing those generators that are there. And, of course, we're having our teams go out even in Baghdad and places like Karbala to visit child institutions and deliver food supplies and emergency supplies that they -- to help them get through this period of bombardment.
BLITZER: Thomas McDermott of UNICEF -- thanks very much for joining us. I know you guys are going to be incredibly busy over the coming days and weeks. Good luck to all of you trying to help Iraqi children in the midst of a war, never a pleasant situation to begin with.
We have much more coverage of the war in Iraq coming up. Stay with CNN.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
