WHO’s erasure of Palestinians must cease by Richard Horton on The Lancet

PLEASE TAKE ACTION RIGHT NOW AND SEND YOUR LETTER TO THE UN OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL ADVISER ON THE PREVENTION OF GENOCIDE AND THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT PROSECUTOR.

Palestinian life expectancy, infant and under-5 mortality, and maternal mortality were all worse than those of the occupying nation. Occupation created successive financial crises for the health sector. Movement restrictions, violence, obstructions to the delivery of health care, the arrest and detention of health workers, and damage to health facilities have all shrunk the humanitarian space for Palestinians. Dr Ghada Jadba, who leads UNRWA’s Gaza field health programme, reported the effects of four wars on the Gaza Strip since 2007. Dr Ameer Qoulaq, a UNRWA medical officer in Gaza, described how 22 of his relatives were killed during an attack in May, 2021.

… One choice his agency has made is to erase the existence of over 5 million people from its “comprehensive” assessment of world health—WHO’s flagship World Health Statistics 2022… WHO is guilty of nothing less than statistical genocide—the deliberate elimination of a people with the aim of extinguishing their existence.

Continue reading at https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(22)01010-8/fulltext