Aim and History
Its stated aim is to meet the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people. Support for the organization originates from the British public, British Government, European Union and international aid organisations. It is run by a board of trustees headed by Mr Robin Kealy CMG – a former career diplomat, who was HM Ambassador in Tunis from 2002-2004 and Consul General in Jerusalem from 1997-2001. Its president is Lord Patten of Barnes who succeeded Helena Kennedy, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws in 2010.
Medical Aid for Palestinians was founded in 1984 by Major Derek Cooper and his wife, Mrs Pamela Cooper, in the wake of the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon. Dr Swee Chai Ang FRCS is also a founding Trustee. They deliver basic health and medical care to Palestinian refugees and they strive to establish a permanent medical infrastructure in Palestinian communities by training health care practitioners, teaching medical vocational skills and addressing the requirements of particularly vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities.
Medical Aid for Palestinians offers practical medical support to Palestinians and other victims of conflict and displacement by working with local non-governmental organisations and the Palestinian Health Service on the following priority areas in the West Bank and Gaza strip:
- Provide health care in isolated rural communities of the West Bank;
- Improve nutrition among refugees in Gaza;
- Contribute to psycho-social support efforts for women and children affected by the conflict;
- Assist people with congenital disabilities and disabilities due to injury.
In the Palestinian refugee camps of Lebanon, Medical Aid for Palestinians works on the following areas:
- Improve environmental health;
- Support primary health care;
- Build capacity to improve income generation;
- Assist people with congenital disabilities and disabilities due to injury.
Read more about this topic: Medical Aid For Palestinians
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