Public Health Policy for Palestinian Children: Palestinian child health priorities based on the child’s rights to health

This policy is the result of national consultations based on the report by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). It targets the children from marginalized groups and marginalized areas and gives them more attention to reduce the socioeconomic gap as much as possible, and to achieve justice, equity and equality in access to services.

There have been obvious negative effects resulting from the geographic division (lack of contiguity) of the Palestinian territories due to military checkpoints and Israeli security zones on the one hand, and the internal Palestinian division on the other hand, which together undermine the State’s control over a large part of its territory, preventing it from implementing its policies and development plans in most cases, and even imposing unstable humanitarian situations, leading to a discrepancy in access to services. As a result, the social and economic conditions are unstable, impeding the achievement of the expected significant progress following this period of hard work. This situation has had negative effects on the health status of children, especially in marginalized areas and marginalized groups.

As part of its commitment to implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the PNA issued in December 2010 its report on the implementation of the CRC in the OPT. This policy has been created based on the recommendations and findings presented in that report through a participatory process involving government institutions, civil society organizations, international organizations and UN agencies