The long road to maternal death has been well delineated (Fathalla 1987); however,
the diverse pathways down the road to women?s health have yet to be traced. The
health of Palestinian women is shaped by the context in which they are living, their
experience of the past, and their hope for the future. Based on the assumption that all
women have the right to adequate and safe health care, this overview of women?s
health will explore some of the social, political and biomedical factors which affect
women?s health and the provision of health services in the occupied Palestinian
territory (oPt).
Presenting a portrait of Palestinian women?s health, the provision of care, and the
external and internal challenges faced in the provision of effective and equitable
health care, this review aims to promote local and international dialogue to improve
the well-being of Palestinian women and their families, in line with the goals of the
International Conference on Population and Development. While the Millenium
Development Goals in low income countries show trends in key universal indicators
of women?s health, they do not depict the quality or experience of care, or how the
conditions in which women live affect their physical and psychological health.
Rather, over-reliance on quantifying women?s health care through coverage indicators
can deflect attention away from what has been called the „structural violence? (Farmer
2003) of poor women?s everyday life, that goes unnoticed or ignored. A broader
approach to women?s health is needed for a better understanding of how to improve
the lives of Palestinian women and how to go beyond emergency aid to develop a
vision and plan for sustainable development based on and emanating from the local
context.