The district of Hawija, in Kirkuk governorate, was one of the Islamic State group’s last strongholds in northern Iraq to be retaken in the military offensive in 2017. 85,000 civilians had been trapped there, according to Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights. People living in the district have been under siege for almost three years. The recent military offensive left remarkable signs of destruction in Hawija; health facilities weren’t spared, either.
In December 2017, MSF opened a project in Abbasi sub-district, in Hawija District, to provide non-communicable diseases healthcare to the returning population in collaboration with the Directorate of Health. In April 2018, in response to the lack of primary health-care services available for the population, MSF started its support to a primary health care centre (PHCC) and the general public hospital of Hawiija.
MSF teams are providing non-communicable disease consultation, treatments and healthy lifestyle counselling (advices on food and good habits such as maintaining a healthy wait and being physically active) and conduct health education sessions about NCD, sexual reproductive health, psychological first aid and endemic diseases, in the central Hawija primary healthcare centre, to support IDP, host and returnee population. In the primary healthcare services in Abassi, MSF provides consultations, treatment and health living counselling to people living with non-communicable diseases as well as mental health care services and health education sessions not only in the clinic but also with home visits.