“This morning, the United Nations and its partners will begin administering the second round of polio vaccines to children in the central area of the Gaza Strip,” said representatives of the United Nations agency responsible for Palestinian refugees. (Unrwa).
Deeming this second wave of vaccination “essential”, UNRWA specifies that more than 1,000 humanitarian workers are mobilized in “less than two weeks”.
“Night of Horror”
As during the previous vaccination campaign, in early September, the United Nations announced that “humanitarian pauses” would allow the vaccination of around 590,000 children, from birth to 10 years old.
During the night from Sunday to Monday, this part of the Gaza Strip where many people displaced by the war are crowded into makeshift camps, experienced “another night of horror”, in the words of the head of the Gaza Strip. ‘UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, on UNRWA affected” in Nuseirat, where “20 people were reportedly killed”.
UNRWA said vaccinations should have taken place at this school on Monday. “We had to cancel the vaccination campaign there due to the significant damage,” noted Mr. Lazzarini.
The entire Gaza Strip has been ravaged by the war between Hamas and Israel which has lasted for more than a year, triggered by the unprecedented attack of the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Affluence
Poliomyelitis reappeared there for the first time in more than 20 years, against a backdrop of health and humanitarian disaster. The network of pipes has been largely destroyed and wastewater stagnates in the open air, often in the immediate vicinity of dense population centers, which is conducive to the development of this very contagious disease, which can cause paralysis.
