A new report by the medical charity Medact estimates between 22,000 and 55,000 Iraqis died as a direct result of the U.S. invasion. The study examined the health and environmental costs of the war. The author of the report told the BBC “There has been a reported increase in maternal mortality rates, acute malnutrition has almost doubled in the last year and there is an increase in water-borne diseases and vaccine-preventable diseases.”