With the global pandemic being far from over, the national poverty rate in Iraq has increased from 20% in 2018 to 31.7% bringing the total number of poor individuals to 11.4 million, 37.9% of these being children.
Covid-19 has not been kind to the world and it has been especially cruel to those in economically poorer countries and those already affected by war; 4.5 million Iraqis have been forced below the poverty line as a result, with 1 in 5 being poor children pre-pandemic, this number has now doubled.
Imam Hussein Charity has noticed that the current method of providing food aid is not as effective as it could be. Typically, food distribution requires individuals to line up in long queues whilst volunteers hand out pre-packaged food supplies. Unfortunately, these parcels only last a few short days and there is no choice over the type of food and often, what they are given may not be what they need.