The poliovirus was detected in tests of waste water in Khan Yunis and Deir al-Balah as early as July. The disease has been eradicated on the strip of land for the past 25 years. But a ten-month-old baby has now been diagnosed with polio in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials.
At the Al-Aqsa Martys hospital in Gaza, the children’s ward is overloaded with sick children and the lack of hygiene products increases the worries of parents.
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– You have to find a solution to our situation, we need vaccines, we need medicine, we need proper sanitation, says a mother whom Reuters meets at the hospital.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres believes that a massive coordinated effort will be required to prevent the spread of polio in Gaza.
– In recent weeks, the polio virus has been detected in waste water samples in Khan Yunis and Deir al-Balah. This means that the virus is now circulating and that hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza are at risk, he said in one speech on Friday.
Plea: Seven day ceasefire
In order to stop the spread of the virus, the UN agencies Unicef and the World Health Organization (WHO) jointly want to vaccinate 640,000 children over ten years. The UN is therefore now appealing to all involved for a one-week ceasefire.
“WHO and Unicef call on all parties to the conflict to implement humanitarian pauses in the Gaza Strip for seven days to allow for two rounds of vaccination efforts,” reads a press release.
The Israeli military states on Sunday that it is cooperating with WHO and Unicef to bring in 1.3 million vaccine doses to Gaza.
Polio is a viral disease that can cause deformities and paralysis. It mainly affects children under the age of five, and especially infants under two months.
In addition to polio, the WHO has also reported a large increase in the number of cases of swine pox, hepatitis A and stomach flu, as the sanitary situation in Gaza has deteriorated.