About UHWC:

The UHWC is a Non Governmental Organization established in 1985 by a group of volunteers who were working at Palestinian health care and community service providers. These founders were looking for ways to improve the dismal healthcare situation for the Palestinian people and especially for those who needed it most: women and children, the elderly, people living in faraway regions, and poor families. Since then, the UHWC has grown into a major force in the Palestinian healthcare sector from providing primary care within local communities to influencing national healthcare policymaking. Today, the organization operates a hospital and four medical centers, each with a focus on targeted health care services for specific groups within the community. The UHWC's Al Awda Hospital is the organization's largest facility. It opened in 1997 and serves more than 220 thousand people in the Tel Aza'ater area. The hospital is set up to treat patients in all medical categories.

 The Al Quds Medical Center in Beit Hanoun (the Northern part of the Gaza Strip) is run by a board of local volunteers. The center was established in 1989 and serves more than 28 thousand people with general medicine, gynecology, and lab services. It also houses the Al Hayah Center for Women, established in 1997.

 Al Assria Medical Center, located south of the Jabalia Camp was established in 1986. It serves a community of 100 thousand people and treats between six and seven thousand patients each month. In 1992, the Al Assria Cultural Center was born out of the medical center's cultural activities. The cultural center serves more than 800

 children with a library, summer camps, arts, training courses, and more. In 2003, work was started on a new center, the Allehdan Center for Medical and Community services.

 Al Awda Medical Center in the Rafah Refugee Camp near Rafah City serves 68 thousand people and treats between five and six thousand patients per month

 'The UHWC's headquarters are in Jerusalem and its branches in the West Bank and Gaza have respectively TK and TK members. The members represent TK from all sectors of the Palestinian healthcare world and work together in a General Assembly to formulate the organization's goals and policies. Unfortunately, due to the political circumstances in Palestine we obliged to work separately.

The UHWC's activities include: developing policy guidelines for the Palestinian health sector; promoting community awareness about healthcare issues; providing healthcare services to people with special needs; promoting coordination among various healthcare institutions; and helping create the building blocks for a democratic Palestinian society that is based on the principles of equality and justice

Members underwrite the UHWC's founding principle that high-quality health care is a basic right for every citizen. They also pledge to actively support the UNWC's efforts to actualize this right for all the people in Palestine regardless of race, gender, or religious affiliation.

Objectives:

The UHWC has formulated a number of objectives that it aims to fulfill through its various efforts to fund current and future operations and expand its healthcare services. They are:  Work towards a comprehensive Palestinian Health Care System based on the principles of equality and social justice and set up as a primary health care system that is open to all.¤ Provide high-quality healthcare to population groups that need it most: women, children, and the elderly.  Promote health concepts and primary health care on a community level and as part of various programs through which people and organizations participate in the Palestinian society.  Improve the overall health status of the population by integrating preventive and therapeutic services offered at clinics, medical centers, and through health programs.  Work to harmonize healthcare policies with the principles of Human Rights.  Coordinate and cooperate with other healthcare organizations in order to allocate expenditures in the most productive way and improve the overall health of the Palestinian people.  Coordinate and cooperate with other sectors in order to promote comprehensive healthcare as a cornerstone of the Palestinian society.  Work to strengthen all civic institutions in the Palestinian society including but not limited to healthcare-related organizations.  Work to increase the effectiveness of the employees and members of the UHWC within the various health programs.  Promote self sufficiency and transparency for services provided by the UHWC at community level and through volunteer work.  Develop strong relations with Arabic and international institutions. Projects and Programs For the UHWC 1999 was a watershed year. The organization moved to its new facilities and held a groundbreaking General Conference that elected a new Board of Trustees as well as a new Administrative Board. Existing projects and programs were reaffirmed and new ones defined, all of which have come to fruition. It was also an important year for the UHWCپfs internal development towards a more structured and efficient organization after many years of incredible hard work to establish itself. A system for planning, reporting, and monitoring progress of projects and programs was put in place. The UHWC can now pride itself on an organizational structure that is as efficient and transparent as the best among international institutions. The projects and programs that the organization has established in order to make healthcare an integral component of the development of the Palestinian community, are:  The main clinic and medical centers  A public health awareness division  The Alhayat Center for Women at Beit Hanoun  The state-of-the art library in the Jabalia Camp  The Al Awda Hospital in the Jabalia Camp  Women health programs, health programs, and well-child programs  Environmental health programs