Annual Report of the Department of Health 2010 - Unrwa

The year 2010 did not witness major improvements in the humanitarian and health conditions of Palestine refugees in the occupied
Palestinian territory. The occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) is suffering the long-term effects of socio-economic hardship with a
progressive isolation of the Gaza Strip and a growing lack of geographic continuity in the West Bank. Restrictions on the movement
of Palestinian people and goods in and out of the Gaza Strip and within the West Bank are affecting not only access to basic services
such as health, but also limiting commercial activities and contributing to worsening socio-economic conditions. As of 2010, the oPt
is still facing the long term effects of socio-economic hardship and of the 2009 crisis in the Gaza Strip that aggravated isolation and
infrastructural decline. The blockade has challenged reconstruction, due to the severe limitations in imports within the Strip itself,
and more than one year after the end of hostilities, the quality of infrastructures is still not comparable to pre-conflict standards.
Table 2 - Demographic indicators by Field, 2010
Field
Jordan Lebanon Syria Gaza Strip West Bank Agency
Population of host countries in 2010*
6,407 ,085
4,125,247
22,198,110
1,604,238
2,514,845
36,849,525
Registered refugees
1,999,485
455,371
495,971
1,167,360
848,477
4,966,664
Proportion (%) of refugees in
host countries
31.2
11.0
2.2
72.8
33.7
13.5
Proportion (%) of refugees accessing
UNRWA health services in 2010
(absolute number)
52.5
(1,050,035)
55.9
(254,604)
83.5
(414,291)
85.9
(1,002,329)
55.7
(472,513)
64.3
(3,193,772)
In camps (%)
17.6
50.0
30.2
43.9
24.3
29.1
Aging index
50.4
85.3
46.8
30.0
60.5
47.9
Fertility rate
3.5
3.2
2.5
4.3
3.9
3.5
Male/female ratio
0.9
0.94
1.04
0.94
0.95
0.95
Dependency ratio
60.2
55.6
60.3
80.5
70.5
65.9
Sources UNRWA Registration Statistical Bulletin of 2010, and CIA World Fact-book June 2010 population estimates
(https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ last accessed on 23/2/2011)
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Financial constraints are a serious concern for UNRWA. In 2010, the Health Programme faced a budget reduction and was not able to
reimburse costs for all deliveries taking place in hospitals opting to select cases at high and moderate risk. For the same reason,
life-saving tertiary care treatments, such as dialysis are still not reimbursed by the Agency. The UNRWA health services are
overstretched, with each doctor seeing on average 101 patients a day.
The high use of UNRWA health services is the expression of the continued dependency of Palestine refugees on external aid as a
consequence of the social and economic inequalities to which they are subjected. UNRWA has been a stabilizing element and has
mitigated the effects of discrimination on health through the provision of the best possible comprehensive primary health care
services to its beneficiaries.
2010 has been a year of choices and hard decisions. The winning cross-cutting approach to comprehensive primary health care, that
has placed UNRWA until today in the unique position to implement targeted preventive and curative services and to address the
social determinants of health, cannot be maintained in the current financial situation.
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