Gaza's first case of polio in 25 years partly paralyses baby
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Photo: AP
For the first time in 25 years, polio has partially paralysed a Palestinian baby in Gaza. According to The Guardian, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), acknowledged that the injured baby had lost sensation in his lower left leg but was otherwise in stable health.
The highly crowded Gaza Strip will see the start of two rounds of a polio vaccine campaign in late August and September 2024, according to a WHO announcement.
According to The Reuters, Gaza's population is especially susceptible to disease outbreaks because of the extensive damage or destruction of its health services caused by conflict, as well as the spread of raw sewage due to a breakdown in sanitary infrastructure.
The Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine, Riyad H. Mansour announced during a recent UN meeting that Gaza has been free of polio for the previous 25 years. However, this horrible sickness that results in death and paralysis is now threatening it, the New Indian Express reported.
“Gaza does not need more paralysis and death,” it needs life to be restored, and it needs it now, he said. Voicing support for the Secretary-General’s proposal for an urgent vaccination campaign, he stressed that any obstruction of this effort is proof of Israel’s genocidal intent. The ultimate vaccine for polio is peace and an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, he added.
More than 1.6 million doses of the vaccine against the poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2), the disease strain in question, are scheduled to be transported to Gaza for a two-round immunisation campaign, according to an article published in The Guardian. On August 31st, the first round is scheduled to start, and on September 30th or early October, the second round.
According to Unicef, the UN agency that provides humanitarian aid to children, the refrigerated equipment needed to maintain the vaccination at the proper temperature (2–8C) entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border on Friday. The Guardian also stated that the UN is pleading with Israel and Hamas to provide humanitarian workers permission to conduct the immunisation program.