UNRWA: Spread of polio in Gaza may affect other countries

Gaza (Quds News Network)- UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini has warned that the spread of polio in Gaza, which is drowning in hundreds of thousands of tonnes of human waste and rubble from the Israeli war, may affect other countries unless a ceasefire enables vaccinations to resume.

“Diseases don’t differentiate between people. They don’t know borders nor do they need a visa or permit to travel,” Lazzarini wrote in X.

“This is another serious development in the never ending journey of misery. Polio emerges due to a crumbling health system, lack of clean water + hygiene material, overcrowded shelters & very poor sanitation,” he added.

“With the war, vaccination among children dropped from semi universal levels to just over 85% because people have been constantly moving, fleeing combat zones, searching for safety.”

“The spread of polio in Gaza and beyond can be controlled through vaccination campaigns to reach every child wherever they are. A ceasefire + an increase in the flow of vaccines will allow it.
#CeaseFireNow”

Polio has been detected in samples of sewage water in the Gaza Strip, placing “thousands” of Palestinians at risk of contracting the highly infectious disease that can cause paralysis.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health said it had detected “component poliovirus type 2” in coordination with UNICEF, the United Nations children’s agency.

“Detecting the virus that causes polio in wastewater heralds a real health disaster and exposes thousands of residents to the risk of contracting polio,” it said in a statement last week.

The virus could be found in sewage “that collects and flows between the tents of the displaced”, said the ministry. Already scarce supplies of drinking water in the densely populated Strip are at risk of being contaminated by the virus.

Earlier, the Israeli Ministry of Health said it had evidence of the “component poliovirus type 2”, found in sewage samples taken inside the Strip.
It instructed the Israeli army to vaccinate all troops in the Gaza Strip as well as those who are about to enter, and recommended a booster for those already vaccinated.

The World Health Organization also said on Tuesday there was a high risk of the polio virus spreading across the Gaza Strip and beyond its borders due to the dire health and sanitation situation in the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave.

Ayadil Saparbekov, team lead for health emergencies at WHO in Gaza and the West Bank said, “There is a high risk of spreading of the circulating vaccine-derived polio virus in Gaza, not only because of the detection but because of the very dire situation with the water sanitation,” adding “It may also spill over internationally, at a very high point.”

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