Credit: @heal.palestine
On April 3, SUNY Old Westbury showed a webinar of the University of Washington Department of Global Health’s webinar on the Gaza crisis. Dr. Zeena Salman, a pediatric oncologist and panelist for the event, focuses on the intersection of global health, cancer, and refugee health in her work and studies.
Dr. Salman has been working for the past decade on improving children’s health care in Palestine. She’s worked with organizations such as the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), the World Health Organization (WHO), The World Bank, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, according to the webinar.
During the webinar, she shared some insights about Gaza and its population of about 2.2 million people, with about 50% being children 18 years old and younger. “In Gaza, they don’t have access to their electricity,” Dr. Salman shared. “They also have limited access to healthcare because of the blockage within Gaza.” Gaza has been under blockade for 16 years and this has had a severe impact on young children, especially those who have been through 5 wars throughout their childhood.
Dr. Salman’s specialty is helping children with cancer. She shared a story about a child she was treating who needed to travel outside of the Gaza Strip for treatment. His parents could not obtain the necessary permits to travel with him, so he had to leave with a stranger. The grandmother of his next-door neighbor, who was the only person who had access to a travel permit. “He had to go through everything with a stranger,” Dr. Salman said.
Dr. Salman shared some statistics on the war as of February 26, 2024. Since October 7, about 30,000 people have been killed, over 70,000 injured, and only about 1% of those requiring immediate attention have been evacuated. There is still a lack of access to basic necessities and the healthcare system has been destroyed.
However, there is room for hope. Dr. Salman’s husband, Steve Sosebee, founded HEAL Palestine, which stands for Healthcare, Education, Aid, and Leadership. “The hope is to provide this holistic approach to helping children,” Dr. Salman said. They have been providing meals and as much aid as they can until they can start to rebuild Gaza and rebuild lives.
