Wednesday, 14 June 2006International non-governmental organizations operating in Palestinian areas are increasingly worried that the Palestinian health system will collapse as funding runs out due to the international community's boycott of the Hamas government, NGO officials told The Jerusalem Post Tuesday.
Health care projects run by NGOs in the West Bank have ground to a halt as donors have stopped transferring funds. As budgets run dry, other NGOs are waiting for new mechanisms to be implemented by donor states, methods that would allow the legal transfer of funds and equipment into Palestinian areas while circumventing Palestinian ministries now controlled by Hamas.
Anna-Naija Litvak, a spokeswoman for USAID, a US government body that distributes funds to NGOs on the ground, confirmed that projects had been halted due to the US boycott of Hamas. USAID, which has an annual budget of $245 million, is now focusing on providing funds only for health services, food and education. To qualify for USAID, NGOs must follow stringent regulations the US has implemented for operations in Palestinian areas.
International NGOs are scheduled to meet Wednesday to share information about the current situation and to coordinate relief measures, Elizabeth Sime, the country director for CARE, said yesterday. CARE is a humanitarian organization that fights global poverty.
There is a concern that donors believe NGOs can replace the Palestinian Health Ministry in providing adequate health care to Palestinians, Sime said.
"We don't have that capacity, and we can't replace core functions," she said.
Jacob Essen, country director for Merlin, which provides emergency medical relief in the form of supplies and personnel, agreed. Merlin's last project, providing medical assistance in Kalkilya, has been halted while the group awaits funding. Essen is optimistic that the UK-based group will soon receive funding from the European Union, but maintains that NGOs alone can't supply the necessary health care required.
"The international community must realize that the NGOs and the UN don't have the capacity to replace the government... it's absolutely impossible to replace the ministry of health," Essen said. The current situation will "lead to a collapse of the health care system, and in the end more money will be needed to restart from zero," he predicted.
Some NGOs have maintained contacts with the Palestinian government. Physicians for Human Rights-Israel recently met with Palestinian Health Minister Bassem Na'im and supplied NIS 120,000 worth of medicine to Palestinian hospitals in Nablus and Gaza.
The activity comes as another conference is scheduled to begin Wednesday in Jerusalem, this one focusing on holding NGOs operating in the region accountable. The conference, hosted by Israel-based NGO-Monitor, will critically examine political activity by NGOs operating in the region, including their sources of funding and political agendas, according to Aurore Andre, the group's communications director.
Andre acknowledged that a number of NGOs had originally agreed to attend the conference but later pulled out.
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Wednesday, 14 June 2006
JPost
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