Due to the prolonged Israeli armed occupation, the separation wall, military checks, and constraints on the mobility of people and equipment, access to maternity and child healthcare services in the Palestinian Territories is still perceived as extremely limited.
Because of the Israeli occupation and the accompanying downturn of the economic situation, all growth drivers in Palestine are at risk of dropping more. Despite humanitarian assistance and women's efforts to earn revenue through household-based businesses, women suffer the weight of this load, with women-led households facing a poverty rate 1.3 times greater than men-led households. In addition to the obligations that both sexes must bear to stay alive in camps, such as food and housing among other necessities, most women are also burdened with the responsibility of caring for their periods.
Fears, disappointments, brutalities, and perhaps challenges while crossing the checkpoint to seek healthcare are among the primary barriers to access, according to studies. To create and engage in interventions that can enhance access to key Maternity and Child Healthcare services, cognitive barriers to access must be identified correctly. In Palestine, specialist health care, particularly pediatricians, obstetricians, and gynecologists, is in low supply. According to previous studies, midwives and health care professionals are underutilized in the country for maternity and child healthcare.
The collapse of the peace process, as well as Israel's economic damage as a result of its closure policy, has had the equivalent of a horrible natural disaster. Due to expense and transportation concerns, many do not seek medical help unless it is critical. Women also have limited access to reproductive and family planning services besides prenatal and postpartum care. From a statistical lens, this has affected children as well. According to a recent World Health Organization research, anemia affects 70% of new moms.
Speaking of period poverty, it is still a major concern in Lebanon, particularly for Palestinian refugees the Lebanese authorities are not emphasizing gender equality as the country approaches economic collapse, but domestic and global groups are attempting to assist disadvantaged women and girls.
Period poverty in refugee camps is a multi-layered and complex subject., menstrual health, according to the UNHCR, is more than just having or being able to buy sanitary protection. Long distances to a private bathroom, very little electricity within settlements, improper locks on bathroom doors, sexual and gender-based violence, unsanitary conditions, and inconsistent accessibility to period products are a few of the challenges women in refugee camps around the world face.
Furthermore, most Palestinian women marry before they turn 18, and have children at an early age, putting them at a higher risk of pregnancy-related health complications. These practices have to led to higher rates of morbidity and mortality.
Eventually, this critical matter has generated unbearable influences on the Palestinian females' maternal health that has long been associated with women's health. Indeed, in their focus on the health requirements of children, development initiatives have long ignored the medical needs of women. The inability to build a holistic understanding of women's health has been worsened by this restricted concept of reproductive health. Nevertheless, it is no more convenient to study maternal health while excluding it from a larger context, which is impacted by a range of interacting elements relating to women's ecological, societal, financial, psychological, and cultural circumstances. The consequences of these various elements start at birth and build up throughout a woman's life. Therefore, the aforementioned issues must be taken into account if the health requirements of women in particular, as well as the community as a whole, are to be met.