MoH, USAID and Anera Inaugurate a Clinic in Area C
May 4, 2016 | The Ministry of Health (MoH), USAID and Anera inaugurated the first health clinic in the village of Al-Walajeh, located in Area C. The inauguration was attended by Deputy Governor of Bethlehem Mohammad Ali Taha, Minister of Health Jawwad Awwad, Deputy Governor of Bethlehem Mohammad Taha, Head of Al-Walajeh Village Council Abdel Rahman Abu Al-Teen, USAID West Bank/Gaza Mission Director Dave Harden, and Anera Country Director Paul Butler.
Prior to the intervention Al-Walajeh lacked a health clinic and its 2,500 residents were served by a mobile clinic that operated for limited hours on certain days, offering only specific services. The mobile clinic did not meet most of the residents’ health needs and they had to travel to Bethlehem for basic primary health care.
In coordination with the Palestinian Ministry of Health, USAID invested just over $600,000 to construct a Type II clinic on land donated by Al-Walajeh Village Council. This handicap-accessible clinic comprises a doctor’s examination room, mother and child health care room, vaccination room, laboratory, pharmacy, reception area, and other facilities. As part of the intervention, the clinic also received basic furniture, including examination beds. The new clinic will address a major need in Al-Walajeh, providing the community with primary health care services in a purpose-built facility in close proximity to their homes.
Creating nearly 230 short-term jobs for Palestinian workers, this intervention was completed under the Palestinian Community Infrastructure Development Program, funded by USAID and implemented by Anera. The program aims to increase Palestinians’ access to water and sanitation as well as other small and medium-scale community infrastructure needs in the West Bank and Gaza.
The U.S. Government, through USAID, is the leading provider of bilateral development assistance to the Palestinians, having provided more than $4.9 billion since 1994 for programs in the areas of democracy and governance; education; health and humanitarian assistance; private enterprise; and water resources and infrastructure.
About Anera
Since 1968, Anera has been a leading provider of development, health, education, and employment programs to vulnerable communities and impoverished families throughout the Middle East. Anera reaches the region’s most vulnerable people with health, education and economic development programs and provides humanitarian and emergency relief in times of crisis. In 2016, the relief and development agency delivered over $57 million in programs to people in Lebanon and Palestine.