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Services for Children
The occupied Palestinian territory (OPT) constitutes one of the world’s most difficult environments in which to provide or access services of any kind.
The historic and unrelenting political stalemate that prevails in the region undermines any progress towards peace and has resulted in persistent de-development. On-going hostilities obstruct the provision and development of a system of public services for ordinary people – including vital health services – and precipitate the need for humanitarian assistance.
Although 80% of all blindness is preventable, much of it caused by poor diet, diabetes and cataracts, the people of the OPT have a rate of blindness ten times higher than the West.
The reality of the situation in the region is that people are unable to travel in order to access such services as there are.
By 2008, over 600 checkpoints and barriers obstructing road travel had been erected.
The building of the Separation Wall further inhibits access to services, and isolates people from land and workplace. Poverty levels are high at 51.8% - more than half of all families live on less than US$3·15 per person per day.
The OPT has one of the world’s fastest growing populations, with numbers surging 30% in the past decade to just under 4 million. Over half of the population – 52% – is under the age of 18. People simply do not have money to pay for vital eye care.
The inability of residents living within immured areas to meet those from outside is leading to a rise in consanguineous marriages and in children born with congenital diseases, including eye problems such as cataracts, optic atrophy and eye malformations. Indeed, there is often more than one child in each family with such a condition, and children with eye problems are often hidden at home and not sent to school, leading to social and employment difficulties in later life.
In addition to congenital deformities, there are children who suffer from chronic eye disease, such as glaucoma. Treatment of chronic conditions lasts a life-time and can be expensive. Given the high percentage of children in the Palestinian population, there are many play-related accidents, not to mention trauma cases.
The causes of the need to help children in the OPT are complex and manifold. It is our wish that The St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group continue to help alleviate some of the burden of that need by providing services that will help children to retain their sight.
Last year we treated 29,857 patients under the age of 18. We estimate that, this year, we will see over 30,000 children. This means that more than 30,000 families could benefit indirectly as their children no longer suffer the stigmatization of obvious sight defects and the social and economic burden of blindness and impaired vision is removed from their lives.
The St. John Eye Hospital Group is the only Ophthalmic charity providing services to the Palestinian people free of charge. There is no other accessible eye health provision for children. If you would like to help us meet the considerable fundraising challenge involved in providing services for children, please use the donation form at the back of this newsletter.