Health in the occupied Palestinian territories/Author's reply

Israeli Civil Administration health priorities included the full spectrum of primary prevention, screening, and workforce development.2 Vaccine coverage was more than 95% and reached the smallest villages; polio and measles were eradicated.3,4 Routine vitamin K for neonates was introduced, along wit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Lancet (British edition) 2009-05, Vol.373 (9678), p.1843
Main Authors: Tulchinsky, Ted H, Richter, Elihu D, Albert, Steven M, Berry, Elliot M, Nadel, Simon, Tirosh, Amit, Zaidenstein, Ronit, Shor, Renana, Golik, Ahuva, Stalnikowicz, Ruth, Giacaman, Rita
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Annual reports
Displaced persons
GNP
Gross National Product
Health services
Hospitals
Human rights
Hypothyroidism
Industrialized nations
Infant mortality
Infants
Neonates
Palestinian people
Public health
Territorial issues
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Summary:Israeli Civil Administration health priorities included the full spectrum of primary prevention, screening, and workforce development.2 Vaccine coverage was more than 95% and reached the smallest villages; polio and measles were eradicated.3,4 Routine vitamin K for neonates was introduced, along with screening for phenylketonuria and congenital hypothyroidism, and routine vitamin A, D, and iron supplements were provided for infants and pregnant women. Since 2001, Kassam rockets have been launched towards cities and towns in Israeli territory from the Gaza strip. The fact remains that, as documented in Israeli military annual reports and other sources, health services for Palestinians during this period were starved of funds, lacked basic medications and equipment, and staff were inadequately trained and insuffi cient in numbers.2 Indeed, the ex-deputy mayor of Jerusalem, Meron Benvenisti, found that the military government's entire civilian budget for Palestinians in 1980 was only 1.7% of the total civilian budget of the State of Israel, and 0.01% of the gross national product of the West Bank, and that there had been almost no government investment in infrastructure and development.3 The improving trends in health indices began to reverse in the 1990s, with stalling infant mortality rates and increasing stunting of children younger than 5 years.
ISSN:0140-6736
1474-547X