AUSTRIA DONATES EUR 1.25M TO SUPPORT HEALTH CARE FOR PALESTINE REFUGEES IN THE WEST BANK AND GAZA
25 May 2015
The Austrian government has donated EUR 1.25 million (US$ 1,382,743) to help UNRWA provide health care to Palestine refugees in Gaza and the West Bank.
UNRWA operates 64 primary health care facilities in the occupied Palestinian territory and provided almost 5.5 million medical consultations in the West Bank and Gaza during 2014. The UNRWA health programme takes a ‘Family Health Team’ approach to health care, which emphasizes holistic, people-centred care and addresses cross-cutting issues that impact health, such as diet and physical activity, education, gender-based violence, child protection, poverty and community development.
Austria had contributed US$ 21.05 million to UNRWA since 2007.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and is mandated to provide assistance and protection to a population of some 5 million registered Palestine refugees. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza Strip to achieve their full potential in human development, pending a just solution to their plight. UNRWA’s services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, and microfinance.
Financial support to UNRWA has not kept pace with an increased demand for services caused by growing numbers of registered refugees, expanding need, and deepening poverty. As a result, the Agency's General Fund (GF), supporting UNRWA’s core activities and 97 per cent reliant on voluntary contributions, has begun each year with a large projected deficit. Currently the deficit stands at more than US$ 106 million.
For more information, please contact:
Christopher Gunness
Spokesperson, Director of Advocacy & Strategic Communications
Mobile:
+972 (0)54 240 2659
Office:
+972 (0)2 589 0267
Sami Mshasha
Chief of Communications & Arabic Language Spokesperson
Mobile:
+972 (0)54 216 8295
Office:
+972 (0)2 589 0724
Document Sources: United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
Country: Austria
Subject: Assistance, Health, Refugees and displaced persons
Publication Date: 25/05/2015