Non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer
and smoking-related ailments, account for the majority of the
chronic health problems confronting Palestine refugees across the
Middle East, a new report by the United Nations agency which
supports them, has found.
According to the Director of Health at the UN Relief and Works
Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Akihiro Seita, these
diseases account for as much as 80 per cent of fatalities.
The reason for the high number, he said, is “simply because they
do not have access to healthy lives or in other words; poverty.”
UNRWA’s 2017 Annual
Report on health looks at the overall picture across the
agency’s five areas of operation – Jordan; Lebanon; the West
Bank, including East Jerusalem; Gaza; and Syria.
Last year, around three million registered refugees received
health services, amounting to 9.2 million consultations – all
free of charge – at 143 UNRWA primary health care centres.
“Protecting and promoting the health of registered Palestine
refugees, is at the heart of our mandate, enabling them to
achieve the highest attainable level of health until a just and
lasting resolution of the Palestine refugee issue is achieved,”
said Dr. Seita.
The report also coincides with the 70th anniversary of the 1948
War that resulted in the mass displacement and dispossession of
hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes.
This year, the report also comes amid escalating tensions in the
region and violent clashes in Gaza over the past two months,
between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli Security Forces
along the border fence.
Quoting figures from the UN World Health
Organization (WHO), Dr. Seita said that over 12,000
people have been injured in the weekly protests since late March.
“Out of 12,000, according to WHO, about 7,000 went to hospitals,”
he said, of whom around 3,500 had gunshot wounds, he said.
The impact of the “extraordinary” number of injuries overwhelmed
the limited health and medical services in the enclave, added the
UNRWA official, noting that many people with gunshot wounds ended
up at primary-care health centres, which are not equipped for
major surgery or trauma services.