Aid groups, doctors call for urgent action to avert polio outbreak : Valley Vision

A group of 20 aid agencies and 20 doctors who have worked in Gaza have joined forces and called for an urgent ceasefire to administer polio vaccines to some 640,000 children under the age of 10 in the Palestinian enclave.

The appeal came after health officials confirmed the first case of polio in Gaza in 25 years.

The group – which includes Save the Children, Oxfam, Action Aid and Islamic Relief Worldwide – blamed the reemergence of the poliovirus on Israel’s destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, as well as its restrictions on repairs and supplies.

“Now polio is confirmed, the response needs to be measured in hours, not weeks,” said Jeremy Stoner, Save the Children’s regional director for the Middle East.

“Without immediate action, an entire generation is at risk of infection, and hundreds of children face paralysis by a highly communicable disease that can be prevented with a simple vaccine,” he said. “These children do not have the luxury of time.”

“I am appealing to all parties to provide concrete assurances right away guaranteeing humanitarian pauses for the campaign,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last week.

“Let’s be clear: The ultimate vaccine for polio is peace and an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. But in any case, a Polio Pause is a must,” he added.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF said in a joint statement on Friday that they expected to launch two rounds of a polio vaccination campaign at the end of August and September.

Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are crowded into tent camps lacking clean water or proper disposal of sewage and garbage.

Polio is highly contagious and transmits mainly through contact with contaminated faeces, water, or food. It can cause difficulty breathing and irreversible paralysis, usually in the legs. It strikes young children in particular and is sometimes fatal.

Only about a third of Gaza’s 36 hospitals and 40 per cent of its primary healthcare facilities are functioning, according to the UN.