{"id":214945,"date":"2019-05-21T10:47:04","date_gmt":"2019-05-21T14:47:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=214945"},"modified":"2019-06-11T10:50:26","modified_gmt":"2019-06-11T14:50:26","slug":"unrwa-health-services-continue-uninterrupted-throughout-2018-yet-health-and-dignity-of-palestine-refugees-remains-at-risk-press-release","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/unrwa-health-services-continue-uninterrupted-throughout-2018-yet-health-and-dignity-of-palestine-refugees-remains-at-risk-press-release\/","title":{"rendered":"Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA Health Services Continue Uninterrupted Throughout 2018, Yet Health and Dignity of Palestine Refugees Remains at Risk \u2013 Press Release"},"content":{"rendered":"
21 May 2019<\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n

Full Report<\/a><\/p>\n

Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA) released today its annual Health Report for 2018, which confirms that, despite facing unprecedented financial challenges in 2018 that endangered the provision of the Agency\u2019s services to 5.4 million registered Palestine refugees, \u00a0the provision of primary health care and the facilitation of hospital services\u00a0 across the five fields of operation in Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, continued uninterrupted.\u00a0 Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA attributes this achievement to the remarkable commitment of health workers and the ongoing Health Reform Programme, as well as the generous contributions from host and donor governments, and in particular, its close partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO). However, these achievements and the continued health and well-being of the Palestine refugee community remain imperiled due to the Agency\u2019s continuing financial crisis.<\/p>\n

For nearly 70 years, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA has been offering comprehensive primary health care services to registered Palestine refugees, focusing on the protection, promotion and preservation of their health through all stages of life through the \u2018life-cycle\u2019 approach. In 2018, the Agency served nearly 23,000 patients every day throughout its network of 144 health centres (HCs) in the five fields of operation.<\/p>\n

The report indicates that throughout 2018, core health services, \u00a0such strong maternal and child health indictors, a near 100 per cent vaccination coverage, early registration for preventive care and the percentage of pregnant women attending at least four antenatal case visits were maintained. \u00a0Moreover, during 2018, screening and outreach activities for non-communicable diseases were strengthened.\u00a0 All the data for 2018 remained static or improved compared to previous years, thus, continuing to provide quality universal health care, the goal of the Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goal of health and well-being. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA continued to maintain.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring 2018, the HP faced a series of challenges. Above all was the unprecedented financial crisis that threatened our core primary health care services due to the shortage in funding. Moreover, the medical emergency in Gaza resulting from the so-called \u2018Great March of Return\u2019 demonstrations put increased pressure on the already overburdened health system; more than 4,000 injured people, most with gunshot wounds, visited our health centres,\u201d remarked Dr. Akihiro Seita, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA Director of Health. \u201cOngoing conflicts in Syria affected the safe access to our health services in some areas. Procuring essential medicines with high quality was also a challenge. The overall situation was dire, but we never succumbed to the pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond preserving ongoing services, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA health services continued to introduce innovations into its programme throughout 2018:\u00a0\u00a0 the health reform based on the Family Health Team (FHT) model and on the e-Health system continued and expanded in 2018. By the end of 2018, all of the Agency\u2019s 144 HCs had implemented the FHT, and 129 HCs had introduced e-Health, which now boasts approximately 3.5 million records of registered Palestine refugees.<\/p>\n

Mental health and psychosocial support services were integrated into the Agency\u2019s PHC services and expanded to include a total of 88 HCs by the year\u2019s end. The smartphone application for maternal and child health (e-MCH App) was successfully implemented in Jordan, and encouraged by this progress, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA is currently rolling it out in to all other fields and developing a new smartphone application for NCD patients (or e-NCD App).<\/p>\n

Dr. Seita concluded, \u201cThe efforts to modernize Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA health services would not have been possible without the generous support of donor countries, host authorities, the World Health Organization,\u00a0other Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ agencies, and local and international organisations, in addition to the dedicated health staff at all levels. However, the Agency\u2019s dire financial situation continues to imperil decades of investment into the basic health infrastructure and health care services offered to all Palestine refugees via Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA and all the achievements in the health sector risk to be unraveled with a devastating impact on the health of the Palestine refugee community. We believe that there is no health without dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n

A full version of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA Health Programme\u2019s Annual Report 2018 can be downloaded via the following hyperlink:\u00a0click here\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

BACKGROÄ¢¹½ÊÓƵD INFORMATION<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA is confronted with an increased demand for services resulting from a growth in the number of registered Palestine refugees, the extent of their vulnerability and their deepening poverty. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions and financial support has been outpaced by the growth in needs. As a result, the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA programme budget, which supports the delivery of core essential services, operates with a large shortfall. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA encourages all Member States to work collectively to exert all possible efforts to fully fund the Agency\u2019s programme budget. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA emergency programmes and key projects, also operating with large shortfalls, are funded through separate funding portals.<\/p>\n

Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and mandated to provide assistance and protection to some 5.4 million Palestine refugees registered with Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA across its five fields of operation. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip achieve their full human development potential, pending a just and lasting solution to their plight. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, protection and microfinance.<\/p>\n

For more information, please contact:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tamara Alrifai<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA Spokesperson<\/p>\n

Mobile:<\/p>\n

+972 (0)79 090 0140<\/p>\n

T.ALRIFAI@Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA.ORG<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

21 May 2019 Full Report Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA) released today its annual Health Report for 2018, which confirms that, despite facing unprecedented financial challenges in 2018 that endangered the provision of the Agency\u2019s services to 5.4 million registered Palestine refugees, \u00a0the provision of primary health care and […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"template-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[1329],"document-source":[1817],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1945,2533,1745],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-214945","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-press-release","document-source-united-nations-relief-and-works-agency-for-palestine-refugees-in-the-near-east-unrwa","document-subject-assistance","document-subject-health","document-subject-refugees-and-displaced-persons","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/214945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/214945\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=214945"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=214945"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=214945"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=214945"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=214945"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=214945"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=214945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}