Lack of Gaza ceasefire hurting polio vaccination campaign: WHO
The World Health Organization (WHO) says the absence of a ceasefire is hurting the fight against polio in the Gaza Strip.
Hanan Balkhy, the regional WHO director, warned on Wednesday that the global health body was working on a campaign against polio in Gaza, but Israel’s relentless campaign of genocide presents multiple hurdles to the effort.
Balkhy underscored the risk of the development of antimicrobial resistance within Gaza, and the possibility of such strains spreading into other countries.
“We need a ceasefire, even a temporary ceasefire to successfully undertake these campaigns. Otherwise, we risk the virus spreading further, including across borders.”
Hamid Jafari, a WHO polio specialist, said during a news conference that while no clinical cases have been found so far, polio was detected in sewage in Gaza’s Deir el-Balah and Khan Yunis.
Separately, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference the health agency will send polio vaccines to Gaza. “WHO is sending more than 1 million polio vaccines which will be administered in the coming weeks.”
Ghebreyesus said health workers need freedom of movement in Gaza to administer the vaccines, and that a ceasefire or at least a few days of calm was essential to protect Gaza's children.
Children under five are most at risk from the viral disease, most notably infants under two, since normal vaccination campaigns have been disrupted by the conflict.
On July 30, the Health Ministry in Gaza declared the Palestinian territory to be a “polio epidemic zone”.
The ministry blamed the reappearance of the virus on Israel’s campaign of death, destruction and genocide and the resulting destruction of health facilities.
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