ERIC MICHAEL JOHNSON
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"If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin."
- Charles Darwin
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Mar 6, 2009

Lancet: Palestinian Health Declines

New report by England's premier medical journal paints stark picture.


Children are hardest hit by occupation, according to report.
Image: AP / Charles Dharapak

The Lancet’s report, Health in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, presents a devastating picture of the impact that war and occupation have had on the Palestinian people. Infant mortality alone, between 2000 and 2006, is seven times higher for a Palestinian child than an Israeli (27 per 1,000 compared to 3.9) even though both are separated by only a few miles.

The Lancet’s editor, Richard Horton, introduced the report:

"Since 2000, the occupied Palestinian territory has experienced increasing human insecurity, with the erosion and reversal of many health gains made in earlier years... These setbacks, together with the latest Israeli air and ground attacks on Gaza, have plunged the region into a humanitarian crisis.”

The report argues that "hope for improving the health and quality of life of Palestinians will exist only once people recognize that the structural and political conditions that they endure in the Occupied Palestinian Territory are the key determinants of population health".

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