RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To describe the health situation of the target population (women between 15 and 45 and children from 0 to 3), living in the towns on the West Bank in which the 12 dispensaries of the Palestine NGO Health Services Council were located, in order to plan a programme of support activities for that NGO. DESIGN: Crossover survey. Descriptive analysis of the data. SETTING: 12 towns in the 5 districts of the West Bank (Palestine) between May and July 1994. PARTICIPANTS: Women of a fertile age (15 to 45) and children between 0 and 3 living in the towns where the 12 dispensaries of the NGO Health Services Council were located. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Social, demographic and health variables of the population group involved, the availability of primary care services and the pattern of health service use were studied. Worthy of mention were the average fertility of fertile women of 4.55 deliveries (CI 95%, 4.30-4.80), the use of family planning methods by 61% of the women surveyed, the low indices of mother and infant malnutrition, and the frequency of episodes of acute respiratory infections and diarrhoea in the under-3s. The availability of health services in these communities is wide. The non-governmental and private Palestinian services were preferred for antenatal control, whereas the Israeli government services were preferred for deliveries, as these services had more resources. CONCLUSIONS: The findings were typical of an intermediately developed society, similar to neighbouring countries. The multiplicity of health services available and their lack of coordination could make the application of a unitary health policy in the area difficult.
