The Situation of Female Doctors in Iraq

This study aimed to analyze roles and status of Iraqi female medical doctors in the society and their homes, their career consciousness, influence of conflicts upon health services in Iraq. As Iraq is an Islamic society in conflicts, this study further aimed to provide a basis to consider the feasibility and problems to train them in neighboring countries, as well as possibilities of future training courses. <br>We conducted face-to-face interviews to 16 Iraqi female medical doctors who participated in a four-week-training course in Egypt under the trilateral medical technical cooperation project. We could not carry out our survey in Iraq because of security concerns.<br>Most of the interviewed Iraqi female medical doctors were engaged in obstetrics and gynecology or pediatrics, and they usually examined female patients. These female medical doctors were highly motivated and rarely felt the gender discrimination in their work sites. They tended to choose husbands who would not hinder their professional career. They were also keen to participate in training courses outside Iraq, if the duration of the courses were within a few months. Their family agreed to send wives or daughters abroad alone for the training. Quality of the training was the most important for those doctors. Therefore, the religion or the distance from Iraq to the training places did not matter much. They expected that training courses of the hospital management systems and nurses'awareness raising should be taken place in future. <br>Female health professionals are preferable to provide female patients with health services in Islamic societies. Although, women and children are especially vulnerable in times of conflicts, the current security situation in Iraq prevents them from receiving direct support. Therefore, this study suggests that inviting female medical doctors to abroad for medical training should be a worthwhile alternative to improve the health status of women and children in Iraq.