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SvennoJ on 20 July 2024
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Gaza ceasefire ‘essential’ for tackling threat of poliovirus: WHO

World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Ghebreyesus has said a ceasefire in Gaza is “essential to allow an effective response” to the threat posed by the presence of poliovirus in the Palestinian territory.

Hamid Jafari, the World Health Organization’s director of polio eradication, said detection of the polio virus in sewage means infections are already taking place and the virus is spreading. “The risk of transmission is intensifying in Gaza, and the risk of an international spread is consequently also high,” Jafari said.

Following the discovery of virus samples in wastewater and sewage in Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah areas, the WHO, Gaza’s Ministry of Health, the UN’s children’s agency (UNICEF) and the agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) have started a “risk assessment”, Tedros said in a post on social media.

The assessment aims to identify “the scope of poliovirus spread and the necessary response to stop any further spread, including prompt vaccination campaigns”, he said.

War-torn Gaza’s decimated health system, displaced population, and lack of access to clean water and proper sanitation “poses a risk for children and creates the perfect environment for diseases like polio to spread”, Tedros added.


Palestinians walk near tents used for shelter along a street covered with stagnant wastewater in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Friday

MSF shows glimpse into last maternity care provider in Khan Younis

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has shared a video on X, providing a glimpse into Nasser Hospital, the last hospital providing maternity care in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.

MSF says it’s seeing an increase in pre-term deliveries and malnutrition of children in southern Gaza.