The European Commission (EC), the executive arm of the European Union (EU), has allocated 31.75 million euros (about US$40 million) in humanitarian aid to vulnerable populations in Iraq. 

This is the sixth allocation of humanitarian aid by the EU to Iraq since 2003.

A press release issued Monday by the EC said The EU's total humanitarian aid has thus reached 100 million euros (about US$126 million) since the US-led coalition forces started the war on Iraq last March.

The EC said the years of wars, conflicts and economic sanctions have resulted in "a slow degradation of Iraqi infrastructure" and "humanitarian problems."

"Some 7.7 percent of surveyed children in Iraq under the age of five suffer from acute malnutrition. The number of Iraqi women who die in pregnancy or in childbirth has almost tripled since 1990, infant mortality rates have doubled over the last decade and the risks of epidemic disease have increased," said the EC.

The current funds will be used to rehabilitate primary health centers, provide medical equipment, drugs and drinking water, improve basic hygiene conditions in schools, provide landmine safety training to humanitarian aid workers and provide emergency shelter, basic water and health services and supplementary feeding to malnourished children.

Last March, the EC announced 100 million euros (about US$126 million) in emergency aid to meet new humanitarian needs arising from the US-led war against Iraq.

"With this sixth decision, all of the 100 million euros earmarked for Iraq have been allocated," said the EC. 

(Xinhua News Agency January 6, 2004)