15 December 2021
In 2019, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) conducted research into the main causes of burn injuries across the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). The research was the first of its kind in the oPt and has recently been published in the International Wound Journal.
MAP’s research found that more than 66,000 Palestinians across the West Bank and Gaza are exposed to serious burn injuries, with women and children the most affected. The main reasons for the high risk of burn injuries are the oPt’s increasingly fragmented and overstretched healthcare system, poor and overcrowded living conditions caused by occupation and blockade, chronic electricity outages in Gaza, and a lack of access to healthcare services.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) estimates that there are 7,600 burn injuries annually in the West Bank and 8,685 in Gaza, with 65% of cases affecting children. Despite the high rates of burn injuries, the issue is not being placed in the MoH’s public health agenda.
Using the results of its research, MAP is continuing to raise awareness in Palestinian communities about the risks of burn injuries, and promoting the knowledge and attitudes of Palestinians to be included in a national burn prevention project.
You can read MAP’s research on burn injuries in the oPt here.
