Besides Israeli bombs and bullets, the people of Gaza are also facing deadly disease threats due the destruction of public health infrastructure. One very near-term threat, which has been brought about by the Israeli destruction of everything there, is polio. AP reported yesterday that the WHO and UNICEF are gearing up for a vaccination campaign but need minimally a 7-day pause in the fighting in order to carry it out.
The UN aims to bring 1.6 million doses of polio vaccine into Gaza, where sanitation and water systems have been destroyed, leaving open pits of human waste in crowded tent camps, reported AP. Families living in the camps have little clean water or even soap to maintain hygiene and sometimes use wastewater to drink or clean clothes and dishes.
The aid group Mercy Corps estimates some 50,000 babies born since the war began have not been immunized against polio. WHO and UNICEF said Aug. 16 that three children are suspected of being infected, after presenting with acute flaccid paralysis and that their stool samples were being tested by a laboratory in Jordan. The Ministry of Health in Ramallah in the West Bank said late Friday, Aug. 16, that tests conducted in Jordan confirmed one case in a 10-month-old child in Gaza.
