Exploring the health and social impacts of therapeutic geographies of Palestinians traveling to Egypt and Jordan

The Palestinian health system relies on cross-border referrals of patients whose care is not available locally.

Referral destinations are within theoccupied Palestinian territories (oPt, including East Jerusalem), as well as Israel, Egypt, and Jordan.

The current war in the oPt has caused the collapse of the health system in Gaza and severe disruptions of health services in the West Bank, as well as the cessation of all referral pathways to Israel.

The war has also caused a staggering number of wounded (estimated at 5,300 patients by end of 2023) who urgently require referral abroad. The ongoing war has changed the regional geographies of referral with Egypt and Jordan now the primary destinations.

The proposed PhD will use the 'therapeutic geographies' theoretical framework and deepen its understanding in the Palestinian context.

The PhD aims to quantitatively analyse the scope and health outcomes of the Palestinian referrals to Egypt and Jordan and to qualitatively explore the lived experiences of patients and healthcare workers (HCWs).

This will be done by analysing data from referral databases kept by the Palestinian Ministry of Health and the WHO oPt country office and conducting interviews and focus groups with patients referred to Egypt and Jordan. Also, Palestinian HCWs and policymakers will be interviewed online to understand how they manage the referral system.

The project will produce academic journal articles, conference presentations, and policy briefs, which will be disseminated to policy- and decisionmakers to communicate the policy implications of the findings to them.