For 25 years, the Gaza Strip was free of polio. No longer. Earlier this month, the health ministry reported that a 10-month-old baby had contracted the disease; a week later, he was paralyzed. This came after poliovirus had been detected in sewage samples from six locations in the cities of Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis.
With raw sewage flowing through Gaza’s streets, in close proximity to the tents of displaced people and the few remaining sources of freshwater, a potentially catastrophic epidemic could soon be afoot. A mass vaccination campaign is essential, but so long as Israel’s military offensive continues, such a campaign seems impossible — even as vaccines have started to be brought in. All across the Gaza Strip, Palestinians fear the consequences of the spread of the disease, especially to children who comprise half of the enclave’s population.
“When my children go out to play, we run after them, shouting not to go near the sewage water,” Reem Al-Masry, a 35-year-old mother of three displaced from Beit Hanoun to Deir al-Balah, told +972. “But they are bitten all the time by mosquitoes and flies that live on piles of garbage and sewage and transmit diseases to us. Every day, my children complain of stomach pain, fever, skin rashes, and other health problems.” …..more
