Access to healthcare for children in Palestine

Abstract

Currently, 5 million Palestinian refugees live in Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon and around 40% of these are children. Mortality rates for Palestinian children are comparable to neighbouring Arab countries but the speed of reduction has faltered in recent years. Morbidity is greatly affected by the occupation which has increased violence towards children, mental health problems and poor nutrition, particularly in Gaza which is experiencing a health crisis. Access to healthcare for children in Palestine is constrained as a result of the requirement for visas to travel into Jerusalem where specialist hospitals are sited, by difficulties with ambulance transfers, by shortages of equipment in hospitals and by lack of trained staff. Palestinian health workers are developing new initiatives in healthcare and show a high level of resilience, despite the very considerable stress affecting most citizens.

Sustainable Cleft Care Through Education: The First Simulation-Based Comprehensive Workshop in the Middle East and North Africa Region

“…Major barriers facing access to comprehensive cleft care in these countries include cost burden and lack of surgical expertise and are most notable in developing regions of the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America (Massenburg et al, 2016). The Middle East and North Africa regions have recently witnessed significant political turmoil leading to major demographic shifts and associated strains on regional healthcare infrastructure (Gulland, 2013; Lancet, 2014; Webster, 2014; Burki, 2016; Mokdad et al, 2016; Waterston and Nasser, 2017; UNHCR, 2018a, 2018b, 2018c, 2018d). Cleft care was not spared from these events and repercussions, as demonstrated by a growing number of refugees with cleft lip and/or palate deformities seeking care at older age in the region, based on the senior author’s (U.S.H.)…”

Structural Competency in Conflict Zones: Challenging Depoliticization in Israel

“…For example, life expectancy at birth in Israel is approximately 9 years higher than it is for Palestinians (World Health Organization [WHO], 2019). Large gaps also exist in under-five mortality rates and other indicators (Waterston & Nasser, 2017).…”

“…These inequalities stem, to a large extent, from structural reasons (Giacaman et al., 2009; McNeely et al., 2018). According to Waterston and Nasser (2017): … the main social determinants of health for Palestinian children are the socioeconomic circumstances in which they live, the limitations in access to healthcare, the impact of the occupation on daily living and availability of food, electricity and adequate housing, and everyday occurrence of violence which impacts on children as much as on adults. (p. 4)For example, the entry of residents of the West Bank (as well as the Gaza Strip) for medical treatment is subject to security approvals.…”

<p>Perceptions of Non-Communicable Disease and War Injury Management in the Palestinian Health System: A Qualitative Study of Healthcare Providers Perspectives</p>

“…33 Our findings are in accordance with other research reported by WHO in Palestinian territory, which indicated that the reported barriers and challenges may greatly affect the effectiveness, efficiency, performance, and quality of care before, during, and after emergency situations, due to the collapse of the health system resulting from long-term blockage, ongoing shortages of medicines, shortage of manpower, inadequacy of medical facilities, damage of health infrastructure, and restrictions on medical referrals abroad. 18,20,[34][35][36][37][38] Furthermore, other evidence reported by WHO showed that there are important healthcare challenges affecting the quality of care in the PHS. 38 The findings are in line with a study of Palestine, which showed no evidence that the quality of care has developed or improved, even though significant achievement was reported in the PHS.…”