Child health specialists have called for an urgent review of the sanctions against Iraq and warned that the blockade has resulted in a doubling of the death rates among children aged under 5 years.

Mortality is now more than 20 times that of the United Kingdom and about the same as Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world, said the International Child Health Group. Maternal mortality has also more than doubled.

The group, a UK based international alliance of paediatricians and other child health specialists, said that before sanctions were imposed, Iraq was relatively affluent and health care had been improving over the previous 20 …