Palestinian refugees increasingly hit by ‘lifestyle’ diseases, UN report finds

The United Nations agency helping Palestinian refugees has made progress in immunization and improving children’s health, but so-called “lifestyle” diseases are taking an increasing toll among the refugees because of poverty, unemployment and budget limitations, the agency’s annual health report said today.

The report – issued by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) – said the reduction in child mortality rates means the region is in line with the target set by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and UNRWA continues to achieve a near 100 per cent rate of immunization coverage among the 5 million registered refugees it supports.

Sanitation and clean water services were also maintained in 2010, “notwithstanding difficulties faced in particular due to the closure regime and conflict in the occupied territories.”

But the report said so-called lifestyle, non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes, “are becoming predominant” in the region.

“Evidence indicates that non-communicable diseases account for 70 per cent to 80 per cent of deaths among Palestine refugees,” it said.

“A rise in health costs due to inflation, combined with the almost exponential rise in the incidence and costs of care for non-communicable diseases, means that UNRWA is increasingly unable to maintain optimal levels of medical care and assistance,” said UNRWA Commissioner General Filippo Grandi and Hussein Gezairy, regional director of the World Health Organization (WHO).

“With a budget of approximately $18 per registered refugee, it is becoming difficult to assist refugees faced with prohibitive hospitalization expenses. Poverty, unemployment, social discrimination and political instability add to the severity of their situation.”

The per-person budget has been roughly the same since 2008, the report said. The refugee population increased from 4.8 million in 2009 to 5 million in 2010. Almost 2 million live in the occupied Palestinian territories in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank. The remainder are spread among Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

To address the challenge of non-communicable diseases, UNRWA is introducing reforms in its health systems, said Akihiro Seita, director of UNRWA’s health programme.

“It is hoped that a new approach, including a focus on primary health care at the community level and an emphasis on key preventive health approaches including lifestyle changes, will minimize the need for reductions in the agency’s health services,” he said.