"UNRWA Education and Health Programme - Gaza and West Bank" Phase III

completed

The Israeli-Arab wars since 1948 have caused massive refugee movements among Palestinians. Around 2.2 million people, or almost half of the people living in the Palestinian territories, are refugees. Around a third of them live in refugee camps in Gaza and the West Bank. The repeated escalations of violence are significantly affecting Palestinian refugees' access to medical care and schooling there. The spread of the coronavirus in early 2020 is pushing the already structurally overloaded health system to its limits, particularly in the Gaza Strip. The aim of the project is to maintain Palestinian refugees' access to basic medical care and schooling in the context of the corona crisis. This is intended to help improve the personal and economic development opportunities of Palestinian refugees in Gaza and the West Bank. The FC measure contributes to stability in the refugee camps by supporting UNRWA in meeting its funding needs for health and education in the context of the corona crisis. For this purpose, UNRWA is funding health and education staff in Gaza and the West Bank. In the wake of the corona-related closure of all schools, UNRWA has switched to the so-called emergency school (Education in Emergency), which has already been implemented in previous crises such as the Syrian and Gaza conflicts. It includes the continuation of teaching units via distance learning options. All health centers have been reorganized in accordance with WHO regulations in order to quickly identify and isolate patients with respiratory symptoms and to implement the necessary hygiene and distance regulations. All health centers also use telemedicine options to advise patients.