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November 8, 2006
Cost Of Iraq: 655,000 Dead
I hope that some of you heard This American Life from PRI this weekend. The majority of the program centered around two studies by Johns Hopkins University that were published in the British medical journal The Lancet that examined the amount of civilian casualties in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in 2003.
The latest study, a cross-sectional cluster sample survey which was conducted between May and July of 2006, estimates that the number of Iraqi casualties is close to 700,000 lives.
"The mortality survey used well-established and scientifically proven methods for measuring mortality and disease in populations. These same survey methods were used to measure mortality during conflicts in the Congo, Kosovo, Sudan and other regions. For the Iraq study, data were collected from 47 randomly selected clusters of 40 households each. At each household selected, trained Iraqi surveyors collected data on the number of births and deaths that occurred in the household between January 1, 2002, and June 30, 2006. To be considered a household member, the deceased had to have lived in the home at least three months prior to death. When interviewers asked to see a death certificate at households reporting a death, it was presented in 92 percent of instances."
See links below.
:::Johns Hopkins/Lancet Study of Iraqi Casualties:::
:::Synopsis of Johns Hopkins Study:::
:::This American Life: Episode 320 "What's In A Number":::
| By Joshua Daniels | 7:50 PM