PAST PROGRAMS

2014

Eye injuries and treatment project

Project Rozana worked closely with Anglican Overseas Aid to fund the treatment of 23 children who had suffered serious eye injuries in the 2014 Israel/Gaza conflict. The children were treated at the St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital and at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem.

2016

Binational School of Psychotherapy – Pilot Program

World Vision Australia funded a two-year pilot program for Palestinian and Israeli child psychologists developed and launched by Project Rozana, which responded to the urgent need in the region, to up-skill mental health professionals in the field of child and adolescent trauma treatment from the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and Israel.

The pilot was a great success and in July 2020, the European Union Partnership for Peace program supported a three-year program for the mental healthcare sector in Palestine and Israel, in the formation of the Binational School of Psychotherapy (BSPT).

2017

Peace in Sight

Having identified eye disease as a high priority medical area, Project Rozana’s Peace In Sight program provided specialist training and upskilling for Palestinian ophthalmologists. The project provided 500,000 Euros to fund St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital – in collaboration with Hadassah Medical Center – to establish a genetic research unit at St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital which would provide ophthalmic care for the Palestinian population.

Project Rozana supported the Peace in Sight training program for St John Hospital East Jerusalem, at Hadassah for a genetic research unit for ophthalmic care.

2017

Syrian Children Campaign

Project Rozana supported the Syrian Children’s campaign, providing treatment to children -victims of the civil war in Syria at Ziv Hospital Safed. The civil war in Syria resulted in the destruction of much of the country’s infrastructure, particularly along the south-western border of the country.  This left children and their families without access to medical treatment. The Government of Israel gave its support for Syrian children to receive treatment in Israeli hospitals.  The Ziv Hospital in Safed was one of two main hospitals that children went to for treatment and the closest to the border.

2017

Paediatric Emergency Medicine Workshop

Paediatric emergency medicine is a developing discipline in Palestine. Project Rozana facilitated a high-quality paediatric Emergency Medicine workshop for West Bank paediatricians to train alongside Israeli and Iraqi-Kurdish paediatricians led by a team of Sydney Children’s Hospital specialists.

The Paediatric Emergency Medicine Workshop, with 22 doctors and nurses from Israel, the West Bank, Gaza and Kurdish Iraq was conceived by Dr Saar Hashavya of Hadassah Hospital.

It was developed in consultation with Dr Matthew O’Meara, Dr Arjun Rao, and nurse educator, Jane Cichero from Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick and held at Hadassah Ein Kerem in November 2017.

Its purpose was to provide Israeli, Palestinian and Kurdish medical practitioners and specialists in paediatric emergency medicine with skills and knowledge to treat and care for children directly impacted by illness, trauma and tragedy.

2017

Medical Fellowships

Sponsored by Project Rozana, the first Palestinian physician sub-specialty fellowships  were awarded to Dr Mohammed Majed Rabee Skafi from Hebron and Dr Majed Dabur from Ramallah for speciality training at Hadassah Hospital and Sheba Medical Centre.

The purpose of the fellowships is to encourage Palestinian physicians to continue their training in a needed sub-specialty at leading Israeli hospitals. The recipients, Dr Mohammed Majed Rabee Skafi from Hebron, worked in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at Hadassah, and Dr Majed Dabur from Ramallah completed her residency in anaesthesiology at Sheba. The fellowships form a key element of Project Rozana’s mantra ‘train local, sustain local’ to help strengthen Palestinian healthcare capacity and also encourage professional and personal connections.

2018

Hope, Care and Good Deed

Through private funding, Project Rozana supported the “Hope, Care and Good Deed” program run by the Acre Arab Women’s Association, that enabled social workers from Acre to visit and offer gifts to Palestinian patients and their caregivers staying for extended periods in Israeli hospitals.

2019

Medical Fellowships

Training fellowships are a key aspect of Project Rozana’s mission to promote treatment of diseases in the Palestinian population and build its health capacity.

2019

Feasibility Study

Two important NGOs are developing a model for mobile clinics, to deliver primary healthcare to women in remote villages of the West Bank.

2019 – 2021

Peritoneal Dialysis Training

State-of-the-art training in Peritoneal Dialysis was delivered to physicians, nurses and dietitians from Augusta Victoria Hospital by the team at Assuta Hospital, Ashdod. The project also covered the planning and organizational requirements to launch the Peritoneal Dialysis service at AVH. Patients from the West Bank were enabled to start Peritoneal Dialysis during 2020 and Assuta doctors continued supporting the trainees, mainly by visiting AVH and doing patient rounds together, as well as by working together on conference presentations.

2019 – 2020

Pediatric Rehabilitation

An Israeli hospital and a Palestinian center come together – ALYN in the West of Jerusalem and the Jerusalem Princess Basma Center in East Jerusalem.

2020

Palestinian Emergency Ventilator Appeal

April 2020 – the Palestinian health system was at risk of being overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Its leadership reached out to Project Rozana with a request for desperately needed ICU and non-ICU ventilators. The survival of affected patients depended on having this equipment in the major hospitals.

We were able to quickly set up the global Palestinian Emergency Ventilator Appeal and respond to the request. We successfully procured and delivered 20 vitally needed COVID-19 life-support invasive ventilators for five ICU facilities in major hospitals in The West Bank and Gaza.

2021

Wheels of Hope Campaign

The Wheels of Hope initiative brings together three partner organizations in Israel and Palestine. Their volunteers provide a free return transport service for critically and chronically ill Palestinian children and their caregivers to hospitals in Israel.

The global campaign, with teams in Australia, Canada and USA, and tagged as ‘Help us build bridges towards peace one car journey at a time’, reached its target of US$350,000. In the words of Project Rozana Chair, Ron Finkel AM: “despite the impact of COVID-19 on people’s giving capacity, the outpouring of support showed that Wheels of Hope has resonated with people everywhere”.