Mina

Four-and-a-half-year-old Mina’s mother took a medicine called Tinifar - which is now known to cause birth defects - during her first two weeks of pregnancy in early 2003. When the war started in March, there were many explosions in her area and she lost touch with her husband, who was in Baghdad, for 20 days. The trauma of the war and the uncertainty of her husband’s fate made her pregnancy very difficult, but only when Mina was born in October with an opening at the back of her head and abnormal growths in her eyes and ears did the extent of the problem become apparent.

Mina’s family is still uncertain as to the provenance of her deformities; a neighbor who took no medicines was pregnant during the same period and delivered a child with defects even more severe than Mina’s (thousands of Iraqi children have been born with unusual deformities in recent years). Because of the deterioration in Iraq’s healthcare infrastructure, doctors were unable to diagnose her case and advised the family to take her to Jordan. Mina and her family are currently in Amman, where it has been determined that she needs two operations: one to address the painful growth on her head, and one to remove the growths from her eyes, which doctors believe will restore her normal vision.

An organization that works with DAI in Amman has offered to cover half the cost of one of Mina’s operations; DAI is attempting to provide the remaining funds necessary to complete her treatment and give her hope of a normal childhood.

Click here to help DAI help Mina and other Iraqi people affected by war.