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State of Emergency Health in the Palestinian Territories

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Raghu Venugopal*
Affiliation:
Royal College Emergency Medicine Program, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec Canada
P. Gregg Greenough
Affiliation:
Center for Refugee and Disaster Response, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland USA
Derek Ehrhardt
Affiliation:
Center for Refugee and Disaster Response, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland USA
Daksha Brahmbhatt
Affiliation:
Center for Refugee and Disaster Response, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland USA
Fadia Oweis
Affiliation:
CARE International West Bank/Gaza, Jerusalem, Israel
*
McGill University Royal College Emergency Medicine Program Royal Victoria Hospital Room A4.62 687 Pine Avenue West Montreal, Quebec CANADA H3A 1A1 E-mail: rvenu@videotron.ca

Abstract

The Palestinian emergency healthcare system faces numerous difficulties in its efforts to develop and improve patient care. The Emergency Medical Assistance Project, a four-year, emergency health capacity-building project, is described in this report. The factors contributing to the current lack of inhospital emergency care and the measures performed to improve the situation are highlighted. The authors surveyed 48 emergency healthcare providers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on key emergency care development indicators and compared the level of emergency health development with those of Israel and the United States using a model of structured development criteria. Survey results and project observations provide a basis for future recommendations in education and infrastructure.

Type
Special Report
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2007

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