The ongoing occupation of Palestinian Territories has led to severe restrictions on people’s movements through the imposition of checkpoints, roadblocks and border closures. This has led to severe difficulties in accessing health care.
In the West Bank region, the construction of a separation barrier has exacerbated the isolation of many Palestinians, cutting off villages from nearby towns and severely restricting people’s access to hospitals and clinics. At times, doctors need special permission to enter these areas cut off by the barrier.
There is also a serious lack of adequate emergency and primary health care, particularly for women and young children in rural areas.
Merlin has been working in the Palestinian Territories since 2002. Since then, we have implemented programmes in both Gaza and the West Bank, increasing access to emergency and primary health care, and the capacity of the rural health system as well as the community to deal with health emergencies in conflicts. We have a team of 29 staff members (27 Palestinian staff and 2 international staff) and over 55 community volunteers.
Humanitarian update
The Gaza Strip was heavily affected by the violence in December 2008/January 2009. Over 1,300 people died and over 5,000 people were wounded. These events resulted in a serious deterioration of the already precarious living conditions of the people in the Gaza Strip and have further eroded a severely weakened health system.
Merlin has since increased community access to primary and specialist medical services through mobile and fixed clinics, and improved the availability of safe blood supplies. We have also conducted home visits and health education to reduce disease through early diagnosis.
HOW MERLIN IS HELPING
Providing primary health care through mobile clinics
We have six mobile teams providing essential primary health care services to 19 villages in Qalqilya and Salfit, two of the West Bank’s most isolated districts. These teams are operating in insecure environments, negotiating gate closures and overcoming physical barriers in order to ensure access to health care. This includes paediatric care, gynaecology and management of chronic illnesses.
Providing community education
Merlin health educators, nurses and volunteers run health education sessions in clinics and in communities. These include health education days in schools focussing on hygiene and special sessions for women, helping to improve their understanding on key diseases that particularly affect them.
Delivering health care to children
Together with our local partner, we are working in five districts of the West Bank to ensure the early detection of childhood diseases, as well as providing health education to mothers and kindergarten teachers. By the end of May 2009, our teams had made 152 visits to 89 nursery schools, screening 8,995 children.
Supporting blood banking services in Gaza
We are supporting the Ministry of Health and Central Blood Bank Society (CBBS) blood banks to increase resources and enhance their capacity to respond to the current situation, and better prepare for emergencies.
Key achievements
• Over 160,000 people now have improved access to primary health care services in isolated areas of Qalqilya and Salfit districts
• 99 Ministry of Health staff have been trained in Qalqilya and Salfit so far, and we are training a further 60 staff in 2009
• We are delivering health education to nearly 6,000 people per month , mostly women and children
Donors supporting Merlin's work
WHO (HRF), ECHO, Salam Ya Seghar, DEC
Key partners: The local community, Ministry of Health, national NGOs such as Union of Health Care Committees (UHCC) and Central Blood Bank Society (CBBS), other INGOs such as Health Action International (HAI).
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