Gazan authorities declare polio epidemic in Gaza Strip

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Jul 29. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Ministry of Health of the Gaza government, controlled by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), declared the Gaza Strip a polio epidemic zone on Monday.

The Ministry recalls that polio has been eradicated in Palestine for many years, but that the “miserable situation” of the population as a result of the “brutal Israeli aggression” has caused a drastic worsening of living conditions that has led to this epidemic.

Specifically, it mentions the lack of drinking water, the destruction of sewage infrastructure, the accumulation of thousands of tons of garbage, the lack of food security and the accumulation of population in places of forced displacement.

Added to these circumstances is the discovery of the presence of the poliovirus type CVPV2 in wastewater in the Khan Yunis and Central governorates.

The polio epidemic “constitutes a threat to the health of the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip and neighbouring countries and a setback for the global polio eradication programme,” he warned.

Gaza health authorities warn that the current programme in place, which includes the collaboration of international organisations, “will not be sufficient unless there is immediate intervention to end the aggression and find radical solutions to the problem of the lack of drinking water and personal hygiene supplies, such as detergents, disinfectants, repair of drinking water networks and the transportation of tons of garbage and solid waste.”

On July 21, the Israeli Armed Forces announced that they had launched a general vaccination campaign for their personnel after detecting an outbreak of polio in the Palestinian population.

The Israeli military statement said efforts were also being made to get vaccines to the population of the Gaza Strip in collaboration with international organisations. Some 300,000 polio vaccines have arrived in the Palestinian enclave since the start of the war, which would be enough to vaccinate more than a million Gazans, according to Israel.