LONDON (JTA) – A prominent medical journal has devoted a special issue to “Health in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
The special issue of the Lancet, a leading general medical journal, includes articles by academics from the West Bank, Europe and the United States.
“Hope for improving health and quality of life of Palestinians will exist only once people recognize that the structural and political conditions that they endure in the occupied Palestinian territory are the key determinants of population health," one article reports.
The series of articles includes pieces on “The occupied Palestinian territory: peace, justice and health,” “Peace and health in the occupied Palestinian territory,” and “Keys to health: justice, sovereignty and self-determination,” as well as articles on Palestinian health issues.
The verdict concerning Israel is mixed. There is criticism about roadblocks, with a report that in the past decade 69 women gave birth at roadblocks. The report also addressed child mortality: “Infant mortality dropped between 1967 and 1987, but stalled between 2000 and 2006 at 27 per 1000 live births.” The rate in Israel, the report notes, is 3.9 per 1000.
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