In Gaza, sanitary conditions favor the spread of diseases such as polio

As the first case of polio in Gaza was announced by the Hamas Health Ministry, several global associations and organizations are calling for a ceasefire in the war led by Israel, in order to set up a vaccination campaign.

Ten months after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, the UN, WHO and UNICEF called on Friday, August 16, for seven-day humanitarian pauses in the Gaza Strip. The goal would then be to vaccinate more than 640 000 children against polio. A first confirmed case of this highly contagious and deadly disease has reportedly been detected, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Even before this information is confirmed by NGOs, one thing is certain : living conditions in Gaza favor the circulation of these infectious diseases.

Like thousands of other Gazans, Nabil Diab and his family have been living and sleeping in a tent set up for months now in Deir El Balah, a town located in the middle of the Gaza Strip where the youngest in particular lack everything according to this journalist. : “Lack of food, medicine… Children live in tents in poor conditions, especially with the heat, humidity and lack of drinking water. There are people who wash themselves with water mixed with sewage, so it creates a lot of illnesses.” Health problems that Nabil Diab sees up close : “I am also a father, I have three children. My little girl suffers from asthma and it created a lot of problems for me to get Ventolin when it is the least I could do.”

According to a report published last July by the Dutch NGO PAX, hundreds of thousands of tons of waste are piling up in the streets of the Gaza Strip, often near the tents of the camps for displaced people. This rubbish attracts rodents and insects, which in turn spread infectious diseases, explains Doctors Without Borders (MSF). “Today, in the health centres that MSF supports, we see that one in two patients comes for skin infections and many patients, especially children, have respiratory infections and diarrheal diseases”explains Julie Faucon, who coordinates the actions carried out in the Palestinian territory from Jerusalem.

Need for medicines, vaccines, but also surgery, continues Julie Faucon : “There are indeed a huge number of children who have been killed, injured, and many who require very significant care but which is no longer accessible in Gaza. For example, pediatric cases who would need reconstructive surgery are no longer able to be treated in Gaza.”.

“A ceasefire is absolutely essential so that these patients can be treated.”

Julie Faucon, Doctors Without Borders coordinator

franceinfo

There is an urgent need to treat and vaccinate. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Friday, August 16, that a 10-month-old baby had been infected with the polio virus. Polio vaccination campaigns are planned for the end of August and September in order to prevent the spread of the highly contagious and deadly variant of this virus that is currently circulating in the Palestinian enclave.