Tedros says it is a “worrying, but not surprising” event due to the devastation of the health system due to the Israeli attack.
Madrid, July 26 (Europa Press Agency) –
The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced today, Friday, that the organization will send one million polio vaccines to the Gaza Strip after the virus was found in samples in the Strip, amid the aggression launched by the Israeli occupation forces. The Israeli army after attacks carried out on October 7 by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and other Palestinian factions.
“Polio virus was discovered last week in water samples in Gaza, a worrying but not surprising development given the dismantling of the health system in the Strip after nine months of ongoing war,” he said in an opinion piece published in the Gaza newspaper, The Guardian.
He then noted that “most hospitals cannot function,” and that there has been an increase in “diarrheal diseases, respiratory infections, and hepatitis A, among other diseases,” while “almost everyone in Gaza faces severe food insecurity and catastrophic hunger.”
“Thousands of children are malnourished, making them more vulnerable to disease,” Tedros explained, noting that “some 2.3 million people live in the 365 square kilometers of the Strip, increasingly concentrated in the face of limited access to clean, safe drinking water and deteriorating health conditions.”
Tedros also noted that “since the beginning of May, nearly one million people have been moved from Rafa to Jan Younis and Deir el-Bella, where polio samples have been found,” stressing that “although no cases of polio are still recorded, without immediate action, it will only be a matter of time before it reaches thousands of children who have been left unprotected.”
“Children under five are at risk, especially those under two, as many have not been vaccinated during the nine months of conflict,” he explained, stressing that the vaccines that WHO will send “will be available to everyone.” They will be given in the coming weeks to prevent children from contracting the disease.
However, he reiterated that “without an immediate ceasefire and a significant acceleration in the delivery of aid, including a vaccination campaign focused on children, people will continue to die from predictable diseases and treatable injuries.” He concluded that “the conditions in Gaza represent an ideal environment for the spread of disease.”
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