- Institute of Community and Public Health, Birzeit University
Rita Giacaman is a leading figure in public health and an Emeritus Professor of Public Health at Birzeit University in Palestine. She served for over three decades as Professor and Research and Program Coordinator at the Institute of Community and Public Health (ICPH), where she was also a founding member and played a central role in shaping its academic and research agenda.
Prior to her academic career at Birzeit University, she worked as a researcher with the Palestinian social action movement, contributing to the development and establishment of the Palestinian primary health care model. She was also involved in the creation of the Palestinian community-based disability rehabilitation network.
She holds a PhD in Clinical Pharmacy from the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, and a Master’s degree in Sociology, with a focus on health policy and women’s health. Her research has focused extensively on the health consequences of chronic war and political violence, including psychosocial and mental health system-building in conflict settings, social epidemiology, health policy, public health, and women’s health.
She has published widely in leading peer-reviewed journals, including The Lancet, Health Policy, the European Journal of Public Health, and the Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, and her work has made a substantial contribution to public health scholarship and practice in conflict-affected settings.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Deconstructing Resilience and Reconstructing Palestinian Endurance and Resistance
This commentary critiques the concept of resilience in general drawing on the international literature, followed by an analysis of its application to Palestinians living in the Israeli occupied Palestinian territory (the West Bank, including Palestinian East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip).
Measuring human rights violations from an ecological perspective using a locally generated instrument: a cross-sectional study of Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank …
Participatory action research in partnership with young people with disability: a case from the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory (oPt)
This article focuses on the process of the participatory action research (PAR) approach of working with a group of Palestinian young people with disabilities to explore their experiences in the Palestinian setting, highlighting education, employment, and social participation. It describes the PAR methodology and the co-researcher involvement in the different study components. It also includes...
The burden of cardiovascular events according to cardiovascular risk profile in adults from high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries (PURE): a cohort study
BackgroundCurrent strategies to prevent adverse cardiovascular outcomes focus primary prevention in high-risk groups and secondary prevention in people with known cardiovascular disease. We aimed to determine the proportion of events occurring in lower-risk groups globally.MethodsWe included people aged 40 years to younger than 75 years who were enrolled in the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE)...
Uncertainty and mental health: A qualitative scoping review
Reports highlight that the ‘golden age of stability and predictability’ in the latter half of the twentieth century has abruptly drawn to a close and been replaced by a phase of great uncertainty. Quantitative research has established an association between high levels of uncertainty with worsening mental health problems such as depression, anxiety and psychological...
Measuring human rights violations from an ecological perspective using a locally generated instrument: a cross-sectional study of Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank
Introduction This study presents findings from a cross-sectional household survey conducted among Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to assess the reported prevalence of human rights violations committed by various potential perpetrators. Methods We used a context-specific tool developed from the ground up using qualitative methods to enhance our understanding of what Palestinians consider to...
Health literacy mediating the association between health information sources and oral health knowledge among Palestinian adolescent refugees: a cross-sectional study
BackgroundOral health diseases pose a major global and public health problem. Access to trusted sources of information might be pivotal for improving health knowledge levels. Health knowledge can be considered a consequence of having or lacking the appropriate health literacy skills. This study identified the association between the number of health information sources and oral...
Experiences of pain among Palestinian advanced cancer patients: a socio-cultural reading of reports from the Israeli occupied West Bank
Introduction This paper explores how pain is conceptualized, defined, expressed and managed among Palestinians with advanced cancer living in the Israeli occupied West Bank of the river Jordan. Methods Utilizing qualitative methodology, the study was conducted in three Palestinian governmental hospitals located in the north, center and south of the West Bank. We used a...
Exposure to violence and other determinants of health literacy among Palestinian adolescents: a cross-sectional study
BackgroundUnderstanding health literacy and its predictors is fundamental for adolescents to have healthy lives. This study investigated the association between exposure to violence and other factors with health literacy levels among Palestinian middle school students.MethodsThis cross-sectional study included middle school students. We used the validated Arabic version of the Health Literacy Assessment Scale for Adolescents...
Palestinian university students’ perspectives on COVID-19 risk and remote learning during the pandemic: A qualitative photovoice study
Background The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered major changes worldwide, with repercussions on mental health and education. The present study primarily aimed to retrospectively explore undergraduate students’ risk perceptions of COVID-19 and their experiences with remote learning during the pandemic, with an emphasis on their high school years. Methods This qualitative photovoice study was conducted between...