A 10-month-old child in war-torn Gaza has been paralysed by type 2 poliovirus, the World Health Organization said Friday, the first such case in the region in 25 years, as UN agencies called for every child to be vaccinated urgently.
The type 2 virus (cVDPV2), although not inherently more dangerous than types 1 and 3, has been responsible for most outbreaks in recent years, especially in areas where vaccination rates are low.
UN agencies have called on Israel and Gaza’s main Palestinian group Hamas to agree on a seven-day humanitarian pause in their 10-month-old war to allow the region’s vaccination campaign to move forward.
“Polio does not distinguish between Palestinian and Israeli children,” the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said in a post on Axis Bank on Friday.
This is a very sad thing. @Who confirms that a 10 month old baby #gaza is now paralyzed #polioThis is the first such case in more than 25 years.
Polio will not distinguish between Palestinian and Israeli children.
Delay in humanitarian aid will increase the risk of spreading the infection…– Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) August 23, 2024
“Delaying humanitarian evacuation would increase the risk of spread of infection to children,” said Philippe Lazzarini.
The child, who has no movement in his left lower leg, is currently in a stable condition, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.
The World Health Organization has announced that two rounds of polio vaccination campaigns will be launched in the densely populated Gaza Strip in late August and September 2024.
Gaza’s population is particularly vulnerable to disease outbreaks, with health services widely damaged or destroyed by the fighting, and the spread of raw sewage due to the collapse of sanitation infrastructure.
The challenge of vaccination in a war zone
Gaza’s health ministry first reported a week ago that a 10-month-old child had not received a polio vaccine in the central city of Deir al-Balah, a region frequently hit by conflict during the war.
Hamas political bureau official Izzat al-Rishq said on Friday that Hamas supported a UN request for a seven-day pause in fighting on August 16 to protect Gaza children from polio.
Israel, which has blockaded Gaza since last October and whose ground assault and bombing have leveled much of the territory, said days later it would help deliver polio vaccines to Gaza for about one million children.
The Israeli army’s humanitarian unit (COGAT) said it was coordinating with the Palestinians to purchase 43,000 vials of the vaccine – each containing multiple doses – which will be delivered to Israel in the coming weeks and then sent to Gaza.
COGAT said these vaccines would be enough for two doses for more than one million children.
Along with allowing polo experts to enter Gaza, the UN said a successful operation would require transport for vaccines and refrigeration equipment at every stage, as well as conditions that would allow the operation to reach children in every area of the rubble-strewn region.
Poliomyelitis is a highly contagious virus that spreads primarily by the fecal-oral route; it can attack the nervous system and cause paralysis.
Last month, traces of the poliovirus were detected in sewage from Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, areas in southern and central Gaza where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by the fighting have taken refuge.
Children under the age of five are particularly at risk.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
