WHO to send one million polio vaccines to Gaza to protect children – UN News

World Health Organization (WHO)Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesusannouncedthat the vaccines willbe administeredto childreninthecoming weeks.

Henoted thatno cases of polio have been recorded yetbutwithout immediate action, itwasjust a matter of time before it reaches the thousands of children who have been left unprotected.

Humanitarians have expressed deep concernsaboutthe impact of apossible polioemergencyin Gaza, amid disastrous sanitary conditionsmarked byoutbreaks of hepatitis A and myriad other preventable diseases, along witha lack of access to healthcare, because of the war.

Earlier this week,Dr.AyadilSaparbekov, Team Lead for Health Emergencies at WHO in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,warnedthat the spread of polio and other communicable diseases could lead to more people dying of preventable illness than from war-related injuries currently 39,000, according to the local health authorities.

On 16 July, the WHO said that vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 had beenidentified at six locations in sewage samples collectedlast monthfrom Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah two Gaza cities left in ruins bynearly 10 months of intense Israeli bombardment.

WHO explained that polio virus canemerge in areaswhere poor vaccinationcoverage allows the weakenedform of the orallytakenvaccinevirusstrainto mutate into a stronger version.

Before the war, sparked by Hamas-led terror attacks on multiple locations in southern Israel, Gazan youngsters had access torobust routine vaccination services, the UN health agencyinsisted on Friday.

But while an estimated 99 per cent of children in theOccupied PalestinianTerritory received their third dose of polio vaccine in 2022, this fell to 89 per cent in 2023, according to the latest routine immunization estimates by WHO and theUNChildrens Fund (UNICEF).

As part of collective efforts tocombat circulating variant poliovirus type 2 in Gaza and beyond, theWHOconvened health ministersfrom acrossthe Eastern Mediterraneanregionon Thursday.

I witnessed at first hand living conditions that are highlyfavourable for the spread of polio and other diseases, saidDr HananBalkhy,WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, who called the meeting. This is an important timeto come together to act swiftly and decisively to contain this outbreak, for the children of Gaza.

Measures agreed upon at the meeting includedintensified surveillance andmultiple mass polio immunization campaigns that can be integrated with other crucial health service delivery,when feasible.

Representatives also called for a safe and enabling environment for vaccination roll-out by way of a ceasefire or days oftranquillity, to allow for steps to be taken to stop polio from paralyzing children in Gaza, and surrounding areas and countries.

Thelatest gathering of theRegional Subcommittee on Polio Eradication and Outbreaksalsohighlightedthe urgent need to stop all forms of poliovirus in the Eastern Mediterranean. It is home to the last two countries in the world with endemic wild poliovirus transmission: Afghanistan and Pakistan. Countries of the region are also facing active variant poliovirus outbreaks, such as Somalia,Sudan and Yemen.

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WHO to send one million polio vaccines to Gaza to protect children - UN News