First Polio Case Reported in Gaza Amid Ongoing Conflict

First Case of Polio Reported in Gaza Amid Ongoing Conflict

In a concerning development, Palestinian health officials have confirmed the first case of polio in the Gaza Strip in years, affecting an unvaccinated 10-month-old child from the city of Deir al-Balah. Following the emergence of the child’s symptoms, diagnostic tests were conducted in Amman, Jordan, which confirmed the presence of the poliovirus. This alarming case comes in the wake of the Israel-Hamas conflict, which has severely impacted the region since October 2023.

Polio is a potentially deadly and debilitating disease that predominantly affects children under five years old, spreading mainly through contaminated water. Currently, Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the only countries where the transmission of polio has not been eradicated.

As the situation unfolds, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for urgent humanitarian pauses in hostilities, emphasizing the necessity of a seven-day ceasefire to facilitate a comprehensive vaccination campaign across Gaza. He stated, “We know how an effective polio vaccination campaign must be administered. Given the wholesale devastation in Gaza, at least 95% vaccination coverage will be needed during each round of the two-round campaign to prevent polio spread and reduce its emergence.” Guterres appealed to all involved parties to provide immediate and concrete assurances for these humanitarian pauses.

To combat the potential spread of variant type 2 poliovirus (cVDPV2), two rounds of polio vaccinations are scheduled for the end of August and September. During these campaigns, the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH), in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), and other partners, aims to administer two drops of the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) to over 640,000 children under the age of ten. More than 1.6 million doses of nOPV2 are set to be delivered to the Gaza Strip, with vaccinations conducted by 708 teams at hospitals, field hospitals, and primary healthcare centers throughout the region. Approximately 2,700 health workers, including mobile teams and community outreach personnel, will assist in delivering both rounds of the campaign.

The poliovirus was initially detected in Gaza in July through environmental samples collected from Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah. The UN has reported that Gaza had been polio-free for the past 25 years. However, polio is not the only pressing health issue plaguing the region; Palestinian health authorities estimate that over 40,000 individuals have lost their lives due to Israeli airstrikes and other military actions since the escalation of the conflict in October 2023. Currently, only 16 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially operational, and the overall medical services have suffered significant depletion.

According to Oxfam, Israeli forces have destroyed all of Gaza’s wastewater treatment facilities and approximately 70% of its sewage pumps, resulting in many streets being inundated with water contaminated by untreated sewage. This creates an ideal breeding ground for various diseases, particularly during the warmer summer months when mosquito populations surge and food spoils more rapidly.

Consequently, the residents of Gaza are facing a surge in health issues, grappling with respiratory infections, diarrhea, scabies, lice infestations, skin rashes, chickenpox, jaundice, and hepatitis A, among other ailments. Unfortunately, these health challenges are largely confined to Gaza due to the region’s isolation from the surrounding areas.