For families with children with disabilities, rehabilitation offered close to home is best

A $290,000 grant from Islamic Relief USA will allow the Jerusalem Princess Basma Center to expand its partnerships with six Community-Based Rehabilitation Centers across the West Bank.

Children with disabilities in Palestine face enormous barriers to education, inclusion, and acceptance.

For families who live in East Jerusalem, the Princess Basma Center (JPBC) has offered rehabilitation services and early intervention since its founding in 1965. Some West Bank families are able to obtain travel permits to take part in JPBC’s residential Mother Empowerment Program. But for most Palestinian families of children with disabilities, their options for treatment are few.

JPBC partners with medical clinics, pediatricians’ offices, and day-care centers to help identify and refer children newly-diagnosed with disabilities. With the generous grant from Islamic Relief USA, along with a recently purchased mobile clinic van, JBPC’s multidisciplinary outreach teams will expand their existing partnerships with Community-Based Rehabilitation Clinics in Jericho and Hebron and two additional West Bank cities.

“Donors who give to ‘Where the need is greatest’ support AFEDJ’s work with institutions like Princess Basma Center on grants such as the Islamic Relief grant,” said AFEDJ’s John Lent. “This grant will have a huge impact on thousands of families within the next 24 months and, because of the increased capacity and expertise developed at the local clinics, thousands more families in the years to come.”