WHO voices ‘deep concern’ by prospect of polio outbreak in Gaza

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned of a prospective outbreak of the polio virus and other diseases in war-torn Gaza, while Israel has already begun vaccinating its forces against the disease.

Ayadil Saparbekov, the WHO’s head of health emergencies in the occupied Palestinian territories, said he is “deeply concerned” after the Global Polio Laboratory Network found last week vaccine-derived type-2 poliovirus in six environmental samples collected from the sewage in the Gaza Strip on 23 June.

“We have not yet collected human samples,” he explained, so it remains unclear if anyone has actually been infected with the virus.

“I’m extremely worried about outbreaks happening in Gaza,” he said, pointing to the confirmation late last year that hepatitis A was spreading, “and now we may have polio.”

“With the crippled health system, lack of water and sanitation, as well as lack of access of the population to health services… this is going to be a very bad situation,” he warned.

“We may have more people dying of different communicable diseases than from the injury-related diseases.”

Saparbekov said hundreds of people share one toilet in temporary camps, while residents of Gaza live on less than two litres of water per day.

Local and international institutions, including WHO, are scheduled to formulate recommendations for organising a vaccination campaign in Gaza.

The Israeli army said it had begun transporting vaccinations to the area. The army reported delivering 300,000 doses since the outbreak of the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

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