Breast screening for 10,000 women in Gaza

As we approach International Women's Day on March 8th, it is particularly important to be thinking of the women in Gaza who are unable to receive essential treatment for breast cancer. Chemotherapy drugs will often run out before a course is completed and there is no radiotherapy allowed in Gaza. For women who need radiotherapy, they need to apply for a permit to travel across Israel to the West Bank for treatment and then stay in Jerusalem or one of the other treatment centres until the radiotherapy is finished. This is prohibitively expensive for most women in Gaza.
In December the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics reported that 50.2% of the workforce in Gaza are now unemployed and over 70% of the population are dependent on food aid. Even if a woman can afford to travel for treatment, or is able to borrow the funds required, she will need to leave her children behind, travel on her own and may not be given permission to leave the Gaza Strip. In this environment, screening is even more important than in other contexts as it gives a woman a chance, when the current political situation so often denies her that.

"I feel I have an obligation towards my people in Gaza – they are suffering from poverty and suffering from oppression and it is part of my belief to do something to alleviate the suffering of my people in Gaza." Dr Suhaila Tarazi Director of Al Ahli Hospital, Gaza.

Thank you for your ongoing support of breast cancer screening in Gaza.