Tobacco.org

• Chronic diseases are leading causes of death in OPT 

As with many developing nations, the shift in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT) towards urbanization and Western-style diet, along with decreasing physical activity, has left heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer as leading causes of death. The response of the Palestinian National Authority to the chronic-disease challenge has been limited, as has been interest from international donors on whom the authority has depended for funding such programmes. Military occupation and its consequences are major impediments to improving the OPT's fragmented healthcare system. These issues are discussed in the third paper in The Lancet Series on Health in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, written by Dr Abdullatif Husseini, Birzeit University, OPT, and colleagues.

In 2005 (the latest year with data) heart disease caused 21% of all deaths in the OPT, followed by cerebrovascular disease (11%). Cancers were third with 10.3% of all deaths. Mortality from coronary heart disease was 2*8 times higher in Jerusalem Palestinian men than in Jewish men and 2*7 times higher for Palestinian women than for Jewish women. . . .

Lung cancer, the most commonly diagnosed and most deadly cancer worldwide, is the most common type in Palestinian, Jordanian, Lebanese, and Palestinian Arab men living in Israel. . . .

The authors say that primary prevention of chronic diseases should be urgently addressed by The Palestinian National Authority. The public health programmes required will need political will at the highest level. The Palestinian Ministry of Health's restricted budget encourages emphasis on primary prevention, while segregation and movement restriction encourages decentralisation. . . .

They conclude: "One of the major impediments to the improvement of the Palestinian health-care system is the continuing military occupation with all its consequences...

Jump to full article »