Location: Gaza Strip

Situation:

Present in the Palestinian Territories since 1995, Doctors of the World runs activities in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank. The attack of January 2009 and the reinforced blockade made daily life more and more difficult.  On the day of the cease-fire, the 17th January, Doctors of the World’s French and Spanish volunteers were finally allowed into the Gaza strip to support out local teams already present there and to come in aid of the victims of the Israeli attacks.

Activities:

Doctors of the World UK (DoW) supports 25 of the 56 primary health centres of the Ministry of Health in Gaza with training, health  education sessions and provision of essential equipment and medicines. To build capacity to deal with emergencies, the setting up of emergency care rooms is supported in 11 centres. The aim is to stabilise the condition of the injured and to decentralise referral to patients to ease the pressure on hospital emergency services which receive many minor cases. In addition, MdM has been running a project for three years to improve the quality of orthopaedic surgery, by mentoring surgical teams and providing medical equipment and supplies in three hospitals. This allows the hospitals to treat some cases on site, and to avoid the need to refer cases abroad for care.

Outlook:

Environmental health, particularly linked to water pollution, is a major problem in the Gaza Strip. In 2010, MdM would like to carry out a study to assess the impact of water quality on the population's health.