The impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of Palestinian healthcare workers: Caabu and Medical Aid for Palestinians online panel discussion

On 21 July 2021, Caabu and Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) hosted an online panel discussion on the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of Palestinian healthcare workers to mark the launch of MAP's new briefing paper, Dealing with Death and Distress: The impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of Palestinian healthcare workers

Through interviews with frontline staff, the paper assesses how responding to the COVID-19 pandemic while under occupation and blockade has impacted the mental health and wellbeing of Palestinian healthcare workers, and calls on the international community to take immediate action to relieve stressors on Palestinian healthcare. This panel discussion – open to the public and with parliamentarians invited – presented and discussed the findings of the report. We were joined by report author Celine Jabr, as well as Zeina Amro, Assistant Professor at Birzeit University and mental health consultant and Dr Ibrahim Zakout, Head of Nursing at the oncology department of Al-Rantisi hospital in Gaza, to discuss the report’s findings. The event was moderated by Halla Keir from MAP. Dr Rosena Allin-Khan MP was also present.

A full video of the briefing can be found below, as well as individual contributions from all of the speakers, remarks from Labour MP and Shadow Mental Health Minister Dr Rosena Allin-Khan MP and recommendations from Medical Aid for Palestinians' report

Full discussion:

 

Celine Jabr:

 

Zeina Amro:

 

Dr Ibrahim Zakout (Arabic):

 

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan MP:

Recommendations from the report: