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Allaa fears the very thing that will save his life. He is just sixteen years old and, since he was nine, he has traveled from the Palestinian city of Hebron for up to four hours a day, to be connected to a machine at Jerusalem’s Augusta Victoria Hospital. He is one of 30 children with kidney disease whose life is sustained by the only hospital that provides pediatric dialysis to Palestinians. He dreads the visits to the hospital and his stints on the life saving equipment which drains more than three kilograms of fluid from his undersized frame over a four hour period. “I hate coming here,” says Alaa who tries to stave off the monotony with games of chess and conversations with the nurses. He is determined to make the best of his life, despite the obstacles he faces. He takes his books to hospital to avoid falling too far behind at school. But after two hours exhaustion overtakes boredom and he drifts off to sleep. When he finishes school he wants to go to university. Even though he will have to submit to the grueling routine of dialysis for the rest of his life, he’s determined to become a lawyer or nurse. Dr Tawfiq Nasser, the chief executive officer of the Augusta Victoria Hospital, says the treatment exacts a heavy toll on the patients and their parents. “The children come here and miss out on life,” Dr Nasser says. He regrets that he has been unable to secure enough money to set up programs to alleviate the psychological and social stresses of the treatment, but he says, at least the hospital has managed to overcome a more pressing crisis. “For about five months we were in really bad shape,” Dr Nasser says. Dialysis machines were breaking down and needed to be replaced, he says. “We were really feeling the crunch,” he says. Then CARE, with funding from USAID, donated three dialysis machines and related spare parts using funds from its Emergency Medical Assistance Program (EMAP). It also provided a $ 990,000 grant to keep the kidney dialysis unit at the hospital running. That has allowed the hospital to keep helping Palestinian children. Alaa shares his room with five other children, all of them struggling to cope with the burden of their treatment. At age 10, Mushrah has already spent half her life missing school for the sake of staying alive. “I want to be well and free, without any problems, to be normal,” Mushrah says. That dream may not be within reach but children like Mushrah and Alaa now, at least, have access to reliable, life saving treatment. The Emergency Medical Assistance Project (EMAP) provides the Palestinian health care system with essential support to mitigate the impact of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the health of Palestinians and to meet growing health needs which are unrelated to the conflict. Funded by USAID with a total budget of $30 million, the overall aim of EMAP is to maintain the health and well-being of Palestinians, affected by violence and the harsh economic and social conditions in the West Bank and Gaza. As 50 per cent of Palestinians live in poverty on less than US$2 a day the cost of medical treatment and health services is beyond their reach. CARE is providing support to the Palestinian health care system in the procurement of essential medicines and supplies to the Ministry of Health and to non-governmental organizations providing health care. For more information please contact Stephanie Baric, |