Publication: Overcoming the Obstacles on the Path to Universal Health Coverage: An Analysis of the Palestinian Health System
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2025-12-19
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2026-01-07
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This report assesses the Palestinian health system using all available data as of mid-2025. The analysis in this report has been conducted in two phases: first, as part of the Public Expenditure Review (PER) for the Palestinian Authority (PA), in 2022–2023, which was published on June 2025; second, an update in June–September 2025, focusing on new PA health financing data including medical referrals. As most of the quantitative and qualitative data used for the analysis was collected prior to the eruption of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, much of this report effectively provides a benchmark for the pre-conflict state of public expenditures (i.e. prior to the eruption of the Middle East Conflict, centered in Gaza, on October 7, 2023) against which the post-conflict state can eventually be measured. The situation since October 2023 has had a profound impact on the health system especially in Gaza, where the health system has been dismantled and a more in-depth analysis will need to be undertaken, and in the West Bank, where escalating violence and movement restrictions have imposed a burden on the system. The impact of the conflict is documented in the Interim Damage Needs Assessment, published in February 2025.
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“Duran, Denizhan; Haemmerli, Manon Yvonne; Elshawarby, Amr; Elnahass, Nevine. 2025. Overcoming the Obstacles on the Path to Universal Health Coverage: An Analysis of the Palestinian Health System. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/44134 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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