On Dec 10, 2015, Dr Akihiro Seita, of the Health Department at the UNRWA Headquarters in Amman, Jordan, presented the alarming findings of the latest of a series of 5-year periodical surveys on neonatal mortality among Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip.
In his presentation at the Institute of Community and Public Health, he showed how infant neonatal mortality, which has seen a decreasing trend since the surveys started in the 1960s, showed an increase in the latest survey which covered the period of children born between 2008 and 2013, a period in which Gaza has been exposed to Israeli siege and military incursions and assaults.
Dr Seita explained that UNRWA is very concerned about these findings and the fact that they published their study in the Lancet has definitely helped to receive also coverage by the general media, like Newsweek magazine and the Guardian newspaper. UNRWA finds it very important that the study receives wide coverage and attention.