Risking all to deliver child medicine By Claire Hajaj UNICEF Iraq
Anbar is a poor, desert region in the heart of Iraq's violent insurgency.
Danger on the roads makes it almost impossible to deliver humanitarian aid to children there.
But this week, 4,500 tonnes of critical medical supplies finally reached Anbar's hospitals in a UNICEF-supported relief mission, after lingering in warehouses for over five months.
This is the story of their difficult journey from Baghdad.
All names have been changed for security reasons.
The journey from Baghdad to Anbar starts at dawn.
Omar, leader of the truck convoy for this relief mission, meets the transport team at the Baghdad warehouse at first light to start loading medicines and supplies.
Minimising risk
Omar and UNICEF have worked together to develop a delivery plan that minimizes the very real risk of losing a truck to hijacking or a roadside explosion.
You never know what will happen these days Omar
"First we must collect the supplies from five main medical warehouses in Baghdad," he said.
"Some of the warehouses are located in Sunni areas and others are in Shia ones. For each of these areas we send a driver who belongs to the same sect to ensure they are not attacked."
He went on: "The warehouses are holding critical medicines like cough syrup for children with pneumonia, as well as vaccines and blood supplies belonging to the Ministry of Health.
"There is a great shortage of these things in Anbar so our delivery is urgent."
Detailed planning is key to success, according to Omar.
Hijacked on the road
"The materials will leave Baghdad in one big trailer. But when we reach the road to Anbar we must offload the trailer and redistribute the supplies into smaller consignments.
Medicines Medical supplies are urgently needed (UNICEF)
"The trailer is at greater risk than the lorries. This way we lose less if the transports are attacked.
"The Baghdad-Anbar highway has become very dangerous. In February we sent our driver to Baghdad to collect medical supplies consignment from the central warehouse.
"The driver and the truck were hijacked on the road. They never made it back to Anbar."
The journey may be risky, but Omar knows that Anbar's sick children can no longer afford a delay.
For health workers in Anbar, the situation has been becoming increasingly frustrating.
Our shelves were literally empty -we had run out of children's medicines Ahmed Yehya
Insecurity is denying them the most basic medical supplies, preventing them from providing the care their patients need.
Ahmed Yehya, who manages the medical warehouse in Anbar, said: "Our shelves were literally empty. We had run out of children's medicines, intravenous fluids, antibiotics and anesthetics.
"We had to tell sick people seeking medical treatment to go outside the province, or leave the country."
Nerve-wracking process
For Ahmed and his colleagues, relief is finally on the way.
But getting a truck out of Baghdad - even with medical supplies - is a difficult and nerve-wracking process.
"The transport trucks in Baghdad are stopped and searched many times before we leave the city," said Omar.
Supplies being offloaded in Anbar The medicine is a syrup to treat pneumonia. (UNICEF)
"Sometimes the checkpoints are run by the Multi-National Forces or sometimes by militias. Our goods are offloaded completely, which causes long delays.
"The militias want to be sure that the cargo is not going to areas opposed to their organisations.
"Our driver has to show the transport manifest. He reassures the gunmen that he's carrying medicine necessary to save the lives of sick children and women in Anbar. Thankfully, we are allowed to pass.
"The journey to Anbar used to take just four hours. Now it takes up to three days. It can take a day just to reach the outskirts of Baghdad.
"This time we are lucky and it takes less. We are on the road to Anbar before dusk."
Once we are outside Baghdad, we move the goods from our main trailer into smaller lorries.
Protection from tribal leaders
Each lorry has a driver from exactly the same area as the destination of his manifest.
From now on we rely on the protection of Anbar's tribal leaders.
They were moved to help when we contacted them about this initiative.
They said they would enable us to negotiate the checkpoints en route to Anbar and to ensure that our drivers are protected once we reach the area.
"Most importantly, they will host our drivers who have to stay overnight in Anbar," said Omar.
"A curfew is in force and they cannot drive back to Baghdad after dark."
But of course there are things that no-one can protect Omar's drivers from.
"Criminals on the road can try to hijack us, or send us off the road with an IED (improvised explosive device)," Omar said.
"We watch out for signs of these while we are driving.
"You never know what will happen these days.
Curfew beaten
"Our supplies arrive in Anbar just in time to beat the curfew.
I hope that, next time, all goes as well as this Omar
"We meet the medical warehouse staff and people from Anbar's Directorate of Health to start the offloading process.
"They are as relieved as I am. I guess they didn't think we would make it.
"You can feel morale go up as the supplies arrive.
"The hospitals know that medicines are on their way.
"They tell us how much they appreciate this humanitarian support - and how they feel our deep concern about the health of children in every part of Iraq."
Tonight the job is nearly done - but not quite.
We have more truckloads to deliver - 4,500 tonnes in total, in 30 trucks.
"Tomorrow we must return to Baghdad and start again," said Omar.
"I hope that, next time, all goes as well as this."
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