Providing essential lifesaving medical supplies and deploying foreign medical teams to Gaza in order to reduce avoidable mortality and morbidity In spite of the reconciliation between the Palestinian Authorities, the health system in Gaza is becoming increasingly fragile as critical resources continue to deplete. At the end of October, the percentage of drugs at less than one month’s supply was at 45% the highest since the war in 2014. At the beginning of November, the Ministry of Health (MoH) released drugs from the MoH warehouse in Nablus, West Bank to Gaza. This helped to alleviate some suffering and the proportion of drugs available at less than one month’s supply decreased from 45% to 43% by November. Yet, the inability to benefit from proper medications puts patients at substantial risk of medical complications. The shortages force patients to cope by trying to procure medications from other health providers or from the local market, at great costs, using inappropriate medications, and by seeking treatment outside of Gaza. The services most affected by the drugs shortages are emergency and intensive care patients, and those needing essential surgery- these are some of most vulnerable groups in Gaza. With little prospect of the situation improving soon, it is critical that medical resources, such as drugs are delivered to meet the health needs of the population in Gaza. 

Meanwhile, the electricity crisis continues to remain an imminent threat as hospitals face up to 20 hours without mains electricity. Currently, there is enough fuel donations to sustain the critical health services until February 2018, however the impact of unstable electricity from the grid and the continuous power supply fluctuations since June 2017 place a strain on key services, such as blood collection, storage and transportation. Blood is used to treat a number of medical conditions including blood disorders, it is also used in surgery, such as cardiac and emergency surgery and sometimes blood is used to treat blood loss after childbirth. WHO’s intervention will aim to support and expand the blood collection, storage and transportation to better meet the needs of the hospitals in Gaza. 

Finally, whilst the need for medical referrals outside of Gaza has increased, the number of permit applications accepted by Israeli authorities to access health care outside Gaza has been on the decrease. Access of patients to referral destination is a serious problem with approximately 20,000 patients relying on the referral system in order to access lifesaving treatment. A number of patients die every year whilst waiting for their referral. WHO propose to decrease the need for referrals outside of Gaza by bringing foreign medical teams to Gaza to conduct these lifesaving surgeries. 

In summary, there are three key components to this project, the first is the supply of essential medical resources (including but not limited to drugs, laboratory reagents, disposables), second, WHO will increase the blood supply to the critical units in the hospitals in Gaza by supporting the two largest blood bank units in Gaza, namely Shifa and the Central Blood Bank. Third, WHO will deploy foreign medical teams to Gaza to conduct lifesaving surgeries in order to reduce the need for referrals outside of Gaza by partnering with MAP-UK, a specialist medical agency.