12 Women Doctors are Attending
In Ramallah, CARE Opens Training Program on Sexually Transmitted Infections


Translated from Al-Ayyam Newspaper
Thursday, 17 April 2008
Page 11

Jerusalem. Al-Ayyam. Yesterday, CARE opened a training workshop, attended by 12 women health doctors, on dealing with sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS.

The women doctors, who are attending the four days of training, are staff members of the Ministry of Health, Palestine Medical Relief Society, and Health Work Committees. They are serving 85 communities in the West Bank, and they are working on the project for Emergency Assistance to Sustain Health Care services in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, funded by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Humanitarian Aid.

The training is offered by Palestinian doctors and experts, in coordination with the School of Community Health in the Palestine Medical Relief Society.

Goal of the training is to strengthen primary health care systems in the marginalized areas of the West Bank, by enhancing the capacity of female doctors to address reproductive health issues with focus on sexually transmitted infections.

In general the numbers of reported sexually transmitted infections is quite small in the Palestinian areas, but the data is not highly reliable. Anyway there is not much awareness regarding sexually transmitted infections, so it is important to train the female doctors on such topics, to help raise awareness among the women in the marginalized communities.