Thousands of Palestine Refugees living in deteriorating conditions in the Gaza Strip will receive critical support from the latest Mercy-USA for Aid and Development contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
This multi-year agreement will support the Agency's Health Programme in Gaza by providing life-saving medicines including insulin to nearly 4,000 refugees. Another 6,600 women at risk of breast cancer will receive mammogram screenings thanks to this contribution, which will also provide assistive devices (glasses, hearing aids and artificial limbs) to thousands of Palestine Refugees, mainly children.
Disease control, especially among children, is especially challenging in the Gaza Strip where the ongoing blockade has impacted lifestyle habits including nutrition and mobility. The UNRWA Department of Health supports 650 individuals, mainly children, living with Diabetes Mellitus Type I, with daily insulin doses. The partnership with Mercy-USA enables access to insulin analogue pens that would not otherwise be available or affordable for refugees.
Under the agreement, Mercy-USA will also make its fourth contribution to the Rehabilitation Centre for the Visually Impaired (RCVI), providing funding toward Braille typewriting machines, student supplies, furniture, infrastructure upgrades and more.
Mercy-USA is a humanitarian organization focused on alleviating human suffering and supporting individuals and their communities in their efforts to become self-sufficient. Launched in 1988 in Michigan, Mercy-USA supports dozens of health, nutrition and education programs worldwide. Thank you for your support to Palestine Refugee health and well-being.
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- The RCVI offers rehabilitation, education, eye screenings and academic integration programs to more than 500 children aged between 4-12 years, who live with varying degrees of visual impairment. RCVI, which is the only centre of its kind in the Gaza Strip, has been operated by UNRWA for the last 55 years.
- Primary students at the RCVI are provided with education and rehabilitation services that are tailored to each child's specific conditions. Children with severely impaired visual acuity receive training on Braille with the aid of assistive devices like the Perkins writing machine. Low-vision students also receive specially tailored education courses aimed at helping them fully-integrate into regular public or private schools by the sixth grade.
- This is the second donation to the RCVI by Mercy USA.
UNRWA is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. The United Nations General Assembly established UNRWA in 1949 with a mandate to provide humanitarian assistance and protection to registered Palestine refugees in the Agency's area of operations pending a just and lasting solution to their plight.
UNRWA operates in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, The Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
Tens of thousands of Palestine refugees who lost their homes and livelihoods due to the 1948 conflict continue to be displaced and in need of support, nearly 75 years on.
UNRWA helps Palestine Refugees achieve their full potential in human development through quality services it provides in education, health care, relief and social services, protection, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance, and emergency assistance. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions.
