Jonathan Crickx said on franceinfo on Saturday that “all children in the region must be protected”, after the first case of polio was detected in Gaza.
:quality(50)/2023/07/07/64a7df4c5fe71_placeholder-36b69ec8.png)
Published
Reading time: 1 min
:quality(50)/2024/08/17/000-36b2729-66c0463ec5654409846977.jpg)
A case of polio has been detected in a 10-month-old baby in Gaza, the first in 25 years in the country, “a sign that shows how chaotic, dangerous and desperate the situation on the ground is“, according to Jonathan Crickx, the communications director of UNICEF for Palestine. He was interviewed on Saturday August 17 on franceinfo concerning the vaccination campaign against this disease which will be carried out in the country.
“Since the beginning of this war, we have had approximately 180 babies born every day and obviously, the vast majority of them are born in very difficult conditions, in hospitals that are failing.explains Jonathan Crickx. So we can consider that the routine vaccination that takes place on all babies after birth is not going well.”
UNICEF has ordered 1.6 million vaccines to launch a major campaign in the area, which will take place “in two stages”. A first wave of vaccinations is planned for the end of August and the next one for the end of September, according to Jonathan Crickx. They will last a week each but need a ceasefire to be implemented effectively, because “It is impossible to conduct a polio campaign in an active combat zone”.
On a logistical level, UNICEF will also have to transport “small portable fridges” to preserve vaccines, because according to UNICEF studies, “nearly 25 % of the cold chain in the Gaza Strip is still functional”. Jonathan Crickx recalls that there is “absolute emergency” to act against this disease: “Polio does not know borders, it does not know political issues. It is not only the children of Gaza, but all the children in the region, who must be protected.”
