August 17th 2024.
In a heartbreaking turn of events, Palestinian health officials have announced the first case of polio in an unvaccinated 10-month-old child in Gaza. This is the first reported case in years in the war-torn city of Deir al-Balah, which has been caught in the midst of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas since October 7th.
After noticing the child's symptoms, health officials conducted tests in Amman, Jordan and confirmed the case to be polio. This potentially fatal disease primarily affects children under the age of five and is often spread through contaminated water.
It is a devastating reality that Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries where the spread of polio has never been stopped. The World Health Organisation has not yet responded to requests for confirmation of this case, but UN agencies have called for a seven-day pause in the fighting to allow for the vaccination of 640,000 Palestinian children against polio.
According to the United Nations, the polio virus was discovered in the wastewater of two major cities in Gaza last month, despite the region being polio-free for the past 25 years. The humanitarian community has been warning of the possible re-emergence of polio since the outbreak of the current war, which has resulted in the deaths of over 1200 people and the taking of over 250 hostages.
In July, WHO reported that a variant of the polio virus was found in wastewater samples from southern Khan Younis and central Deir al-Balah, which was linked to a variant last detected in Egypt last year. And while the organisation has not yet confirmed this new case, they did announce yesterday that three children in Gaza were found with acute flaccid paralysis - a common symptom of polio.
To combat the spread of this disease, over 1.6 million doses of the polio vaccine are expected to arrive in Gaza by the end of August. The vaccination campaigns will be conducted in two rounds, with children under 10 receiving two drops of the oral vaccine against type 2 of the polio virus.
However, health officials in Gaza have issued a stark warning that without an urgent ceasefire in place, they will not be able to effectively treat and prevent the spread of polio. This comes as international mediators express hope for a ceasefire deal and have announced plans to reconvene in Cairo next week to finalize an agreement. This three-phase plan includes the release of hostages by Hamas in exchange for a lasting ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
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