The Gaza Strip’s first recorded polio case in 25 years has health workers and aid agencies grappling with the steep obstacles to conducting mass vaccination in the war-torn Palestinian territory.
Unrelenting airstrikes by Israel more than 10 months into its war against Gaza rulers Hamas, restrictions of aid entering the besieged territory and hot summer temperatures all threaten the viability of a life-saving inoculation drive.
Still, equipment to support the extensive campaign — which UN agencies say could start on August 31 — has already arrived in the region.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in the occupied West Bank said last week that tests in Jordan had confirmed polio in an unvaccinated 10-month-old baby from central Gaza.
According to the United Nations, Gaza had not registered a case for 25 years, although type 2 poliovirus was detected in samples collected from the territory’s wastewater in June.
Poliovirus is highly infectious, and most often spread through sewage and contaminated water — an increasingly common problem in Gaza as the Israel-Hamas war drags on.
The disease mainly affects children under the age of five. It can cause deformities and paralysis, and is potentially fatal.
UN bodies the World Health Organization (WHO) and children’s agency UNICEF say they have detailed plans to vaccinate 6,40,000 children across Gaza.
But a major challenge remains Israel’s devastating military campaign, triggered by Hamas’s October 7 attack on the country’s south. “It’s extremely difficult to undertake a vaccination campaign of this scale and volume under a sky full of air strikes,” said Juliette Touma, director of communications for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
Under the UN plan, 2,700 health workers in 708 teams would take part, with the WHO overseeing the effort, said Richard Peeperkorn, the agency’s representative in the Palestinian territories.
UNICEF would ensure the cold supply chain as vaccines are brought into and distributed across Gaza, spokesman Jonathan Crickx said.
Cold chain components including refrigerators arrived Wednesday at Israel’s main international airport.
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