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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 Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA provide health care to Palestine refugees in Gaza and the West Bank.

Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA 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 Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA 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 Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA since 2007.

BACKGROÄ¢¹½ÊÓƵD INFORMATION

Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA 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. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA’s services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, and microfinance.

Financial support to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA 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 Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA’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