Palestinians have faced increasing difficulties accessing health care since the construction of a security wall that runs between Israel and the Palestinian territories. Dr Nigel Pearson has recently completed an assessment for Merlin in this troubled area.
Merlin has been helping communities in the West Bank since 2002. Currently, Merlin supports clinics in 15 communities in two districts of the West Bank. These communities are amongst the hardest hit by the security wall. With no access to jobs and severe movement restrictions within the West Bank unemployment has increased dramatically. In one village, Jayyus, people are not able to get to their fields and olive groves lying on the other side of the security wall. Poverty has increased and it is even more difficult for families to get enough food.
Looking at the map of these districts, it is easy to see how complicated just moving between towns has become. People from neighbouring villages now have to travel 40 km to get to each other, and villagers have to go through a checkpoint every time they go shopping.
Merlin works in Azzoun Atma, a village that is completely encircled by the security wall. Every time the nurse leaves the village she is searched and must show papers. Twice she has been turned back when accompanying women in labour, and even though she is not trained as a midwife, she has had to help them to deliver at home. UNFPA (the United Nations Population Fund) has documented cases of women whose babies died at birth because they could not get through check points quickly enough.
Merlin supports clinics in these isolated communities by bringing in Palestinian GPs, specialist doctors, nurses, health educators and laboratory specialists. With the support of funding through ECHO (European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office), Merlin has re-equipped many of these clinics, trained staff, and has greatly increased access to first line health services, as well as educating people about healthy living.
Merlin has also helped the Ministry of Health to set up mobile health teams in restricted areas, and has brought health care to vulnerable groups like pregnant women, children and the elderly.
Merlin is now seeking to expand to more marginalised communities, and to increase the capacity of health staff to look after the needs of adults who have chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, heart and chest disease. Merlin also plans to collaborate further with other key health organisations to help women get to hospital for deliveries and to strengthen the management of childhood illnesses.
I found that Merlin’s programme greatly enhances the Ministry of Health’s capacity to help vulnerable communities, increasing access to essential health care. With its experience in cutting-edge programmes around the world, Merlin is particularly suited to helping in the West Bank, both in the short term to bring in mobile teams and in the longer term to build up the capacity of the Palestinian health system.
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