United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Assistant Administrator Mara Rudman visited the village of Harmalah near Bethlehem on Saturday to discuss ongoing and future projects with the Harmalah Village Council. Ms Rudman, who heads USAID’s Middle East Bureau, toured the Harmalah Primary Health Care Clinic which is currently being rehabilitated and expanded through a USAID project.
In addition to undertaking structural work on the clinic, USAID is outfitting the clinic with a laboratory that will enable it to provide services previously available only in larger cities. The clinic serves a population of approximately 6,000 people from Harmalah and other nearby villages.
Over the past three years, the American people have provided approximately $35 million through USAID to build or renovate Palestinian healthcare facilities and to purchase furniture, equipment and supplies for these hospitals and clinics. One component of that work has been to partner with the Ministry of Health and Palestinian Civil Society Organizations to increase the ability of local clinics to provide primary care for their communities.
Ms Rudman thanked the people of Harmalah for their commitment to making positive changes and expressed her desire to continue to build on this excellent cooperation. She noted that since last year the United States had worked with local councils and officials to identify schools and health clinics in Area C that needed renovations and/or expansion to provide better services, and that to date work had been completed or was under construction on ten of the twelve. She expressed her desire to continue to work together to build on this work.
At the clinic, Ms Rudman noted that, “Projects like the one we are working on together now are part of the United States Government’s commitment to working closely with our Palestinian partners to build a brighter future for all Palestinians.”
Since 1994, USAID has provided approximately $3.5 billion in assistance to the West B”ank and Gaza. USAID assistance has been provided to improve the quality of life for the “Palestinian people, address urgent humanitarian requirements, develop infrastructure, build a viable private sector economy, support civil society and improve governance and respect for human rights and the rule of law. |
