Prevalence of disease
According to the Global Burden of
Disease study carried out between 1990 and 2013 there exist gross disparities
between the health of Palestinians and Israelis (Humanosphere August 2014). The
biggest discrepancies found were in cardio and circulatory disease prevalence and
neonatal issues - five times as much in Palestine and diabetes and endocrine
diseases which are twice as prevalent amongst Palestinians as Israelis.
Although the disparity between child deaths among the two populations has been
diminishing over time, the rate among Palestinian children is still 5 times as
much as among Israeli children in 2013 with maternal mortality double the rate
in Palestine. There is also a
significant difference between the numbers of mental health suffers in
Palestinian territories versus in Israel – figures that Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) associates with a
high prevalence of anxiety among Palestinians under the continuous mistreatment
by IDF forces.
There were found to be many poverty-related
and conflict-related afflictions with diarrhoea and infectious diseases much
higher (up to 5 times) among the Palestinians as well as low rates of nutrition
(5 times as much among Palestinians) which along-side poor housing and low
incomes exacerbate the rate of avoidable illnesses. This has contributed to a
greater scale of early death with general life expectancy (outside of conflict)
around 5 years less among Palestinians that Israelis, 75 to 81, respectively –
and an over 65 population of 3.2% in Palestine and 10.5 in Israel (World fact
book).
Further details and a breakdown
can be found at http://ihmeuw.org/25vv
Health provision and access
The general health level among Israelis
is on average more comparable to Europe, currently higher than in Italy or
Spain (Humanopsphere, August 2014), with health spending currently at USD$
2,071 per capita or 7.7% of GDP similar
to that of Luxembourg (World fact book) with universal health care in place
since 1995. Conversely Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank are provided health care through
UN agencies, specifically UNWRA and humanitarian organisations such as MSF and
the ICRC – but these can cost and do have some notable conditions. The WHO estimated that 58% of the health
sector in Gaza was damaged during Operation Protective Edge with specific medical
concerns arising such as the increase of water-borne diseases as a result of
over-crowding in shelters; complications for casualty patients including
through lack of water and electricity and a decline of physical and mental
health from the extended emergency period without improvements to access to
health or the overall living conditions in Gaza (WHO 21st August
2014).
Health facilities and provision
in Israel do not seem to be greatly affected, if at all, by hostilities and
conflict while facilities in Palestine are currently also suffering from
shortages in drugs – 28% of essential medicines were at zero stock and 16% at
very low with anaesthesia and sutures at only 54% of that required – according
to the Pharmacy director general in Gaza (WHO, 2014). The medical journal The
Lancet found that poor families in Palestine had little access to medical
treatment in Israel – made worse by the barrier erected by Israel within the
West Bank and with Gaza – and that a fifth of access requests were either
denied or delayed by the Israeli authorities.
Within Israel too, Israeli Arabs were found to experience health
services differently. Here economic
factors were found to play less of a role than exclusionary policies towards
non-Jews were found to be the cause with lower rates of insurance cover for
Arabs (Chernichovsky and Anson, 2005) and subsequent fewer referrals to
consultants for non-Hebrew speakers.
