PALESTINIAN SOCIETY - Fafo

up to 44% among those above 60 years of age. Health insurance
coverage varies with socioeconomic factors. In the lower third
wealth gro up only 25% are insured, versus 37% in the upperthird
of the wealth scale. This contrasts with the rates of acute and
chronic illness and with the amount of problems created by
illnesses in the different wealth groups, as measured in terms of
absence from normal duties and difficulties in going out without
help from others.
Interestingly, the coverage is at the same level in camps as it is
in Gaza and the West Bank outside camps - approximately 27%.
In Arab Jerusalem 49% are covered through health insurance.
Results from the FAFO survey (tab le 4.11) indicate a: lower
coverage rate than do official figures from Israel (Israel Ministry
of Health, 1992). The Ministry of Health reports that 'Gaza has
experienced a marked increase in coverage in the IGHS health
insurance plan from 22% of the population at the beginning of
1991, to over 50% in early 1992.' There is a discrepancy between
these figures and the FAFO figures, although they cannot be
compared directly as children are not included in the FAFO study,
and the method is not described in the Israeli report. But the low
coverage among people aged 15 to 19 may indicate that the
coverage would have been lower in the FAFO study also if
children had been included. The West Bank Rural Primary Care
Survey (Barghouti and Daibes, 1990, 1991a, 1991b, 1991c) reports
dramatically low rates of health insurance, but it has data
from rural areas only, and at an aggregate level, which makes
comparison difficult.
Symptoms of Distress
-Mental Health
Although there exist some studies on mental health effects of
uprisings, civil strife and conflict, as weU as numerous works on
refugee popu1ations and military occupations, few of these, if any,
can be directly compared with the present report. There are a few
other studies of mental health among Palestiniims in the occupied
territories, but differing research methods and aims limit the value
of comparison (Hein 1993, Baker 1990, Punamaki 1990a, Punamaki
1990b).
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