Location: Neurosurgery Hospital Baghdad
Timing: April – July 2004
Budget: $53,280

• The Neurosurgery Hospital in Baghdad serves patients throughout Iraq. Beginning of 2004 the hospital reported that three key supplies for surgery were nearly depleted: shunts, bonewax, and Surgicell.
• Bonewax and Surgicell are used in many head surgery operations.
• Shunts are inserted in special procedures in order to relieve pressure buildup on the brain. It is a simple procedure but without it blindness, deafness, epilepsy, mental retardation and death can result. This pressure can result from:
  • Congenital defects in children
  • Meningitis or other infections
  • Brain tumors in children
  • Head trauma
• April through August 2004 approximately 200 surgeries were performed each month at this hospital: about 50% were children.
• Before the war, about 5% of surgeries performed were to treat trauma injuries. By mid-2004 trauma injuries accounted for about 75% of surgeries due to the ongoing violence.