Gaza Strip: Polio Vaccination Campaign Faces Challenges, UN
A child receiving a dosis of the polio vaccine in Gaza: Photo: X/ @UN
September 6, 2024 Hour: 2:17 pm
The campaign was launched in cooperation with the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund and Palestinian health authorities with the aim of vaccinating some 640,000 children under the age of ten.
On Friday, an official with the UN agency tasked with helping the Palestinians warned that the polio vaccination campaign in Gaza faces numerous challenges, especially the continuing Israeli aggression.
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This is compounded by poor security conditions and the possibility that vaccination teams may not be able to reach their assigned areas because of the war, said Ines Hamdan, acting director of information in Gaza for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in Palestine (Unrwa).
In an interview with the Safa news agency, Hamdan stressed the need for a ceasefire in the territory to allow the population to breathe a sigh of relief after 11 months of conflict.
The campaign was launched in cooperation with the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund and Palestinian health authorities with the aim of vaccinating some 640,000 children under the age of ten.
Before the war, Unrwa had 26 health centers in Gaza, now only 10 are functioning, he lamented.
Hamdan stressed the importance of the initiative, noting that the disease ‘crosses borders and spreads quickly’.
The project was launched following the announcement last month of the first case of polio in the coastal enclave in 25 years.
Numerous NGOs and UN institutions repeatedly denounced the spread of epidemics and infectious diseases in the Strip due to the lack of medicines, vaccines and hygiene tools, as well as the difficult health and living conditions suffered by Palestinians.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health yesterday denounced Israel’s refusal to coordinate the entry of medical teams for the vaccination campaign in the areas east of the Salah al-Din Road.
Autor: OSG
Fuente: The Independant - Al Jazeera
