Levels and Factors Affecting Mortality Rates in Jenin Governorate During The Period 2004-2013 from the Vital Registration of the Palestinian Ministry of Health

Death ratio is considered one of the most important indicators of the extent of the provided health services and health awareness in any community, and the matter that has urged the conducting of this study was the rareness of the studies that has tackled the subject in West Bank in general, and Jenin Governorate in particular, and the aim of the study was to identify the rates and causes of mortality, and determining the most important demographic and social factors affecting mortality rates in Jenin Governorate. To achieve the study goal, the researcher has depeneded on the data bases retrieved from the Ministry of Health, where the study included all the registered deaths in the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Jenin Governorate that were 8660 death. The study covered the duration between 2013-2004. The researcher used the descriptive analytical approach to provide a picture of the study population, in addition to using the demographic analytical methods proper for the study purposes to measure the death rates and their distribution according to the study variables and identifying their impact on the deaths. The most important results the researcher came up with are: death rates decreased during (2004-2013). The most prominent death cause is heart diseases and the circulatory system, then in the second place comes the malignant diseases. The study has also showed that infants are affected by the internal and environmental reasons, while the older ages are affected by the underlying diseases such as cardiac and malignant diseases. Moreover, the study has proven that the social and demographic variables mentioned in the death reporting certificate including: sex, age, marital status, place of death, place of treatment, and religion, have obvious statistically significant relation to death rates. Finally, life expectancy in Jenin Governorate for the year 2013 was 68 years old for males, and 70 years old for females. Upon the results of the study, the researcher recommends working more on improving the type of health services provided in Jenin, particularly, in the rural areas, and providing a balanced sufficient budget for the Ministry of Health, working on providing a comprehensive health insurance that includes providing health services to all citizens equally, in addition to unifying the process of issuing data about the demographic issues and death, in particular.