World Health Organization: The ceasefire enabled the fortification of more children against polio in Gaza

The organization added in a statement issued today, Friday, that the newly oral polio vaccination campaign, which lasted for five days, was concluded on Wednesday, after comprehensive and coinciding with all the five governorates of the sector during the continuous ceasefire.

The organization explained that during this tour, 40,000 additional children were vaccinated compared to the previous two rounds that were conducted in September and October 2024, after the discovery of the polio virus in the Gaza Strip.

She pointed out that the ceasefire enabled health workers to reach more children who have missed vaccinations due to displacement during the immunization process in stages, or who lived in areas that were previously required for special coordination for arrival, or who were not able to reach during the October 2024 tour due to insecurity in northern Gaza, including Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun.

Consciousness and community participation

The World Health Organization said that strong community participation and awareness of the benefits of vaccination maintained high fortification rates in the Gaza Strip, where 89 percent of children received the third dose of oral polio vaccine in 2023, before the conflict.

The implementation of this new tour was 1660 vaccination teams, 1242 of which were mobile, and 1242 workers in social mobilization were published. Despite bad weather, families welcomed the initiative and brought their children to polio vaccine points.

The organization explained that the Palestinian Ministry of Health carried out the campaign with the support of the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and other partners.

The organization said that as part of the commitment of the World Palmia initiative to carry out a strong response against the polio virus outbreak, monitoring of diseases in children and the spread of the virus in the environment has been intensified since July 2024. This timely monitoring was the one that revealed the continuous environmental spread of the virus, and the need to conduct additional vaccination to protect children.

The organization stressed that since the ceasefire provides an opportunity to resume decisive public health functions, work to restore monitoring of strong diseases and routine vaccination in Gaza is the best way to protect children from polio and other diseases that can be prevented with vaccines.

Malnutrition tests

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that since last month, the humanitarian partners examined more than 100,000 children under the age of five to detect malnutrition and register those who need treatment. The partners also continue to distribute nutritional supplements to infants and young children.

For its part, UNRWA said that more than half a million people in the five governorates in the Gaza Strip received blankets, brushes, stories, clothes and other materials, including the tarpaulin to protect from rain.

Evaluating the needs of the displaced in the West Bank

On the situation in the West Bank, the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that the ongoing Israeli forces operation there entered its sixth week, and that tens of thousands of people are still displaced in Jenin and Tulkarm.

On the 25th and 26th of this month, Otha and his partners led a task to assess the needs of the displaced in Jenin and Tulkarm, where many of these families were displaced several times.

The office said that those displaced have lost their livelihoods and they could no longer meet the basic needs of their families, and access to food has become limited, as some of the displaced have reported a decrease in the meals they eat every day.

Otha warned that children in schools lost more than a month of learning and exposed to high levels of anxiety and anguish.

The office indicated a report published yesterday, Thursday, in which the partners called for protecting children and their right to live and obtain education, health care and other basic services.

He added that at the same time, Israeli settlers continue to attack Palestinian societies throughout the West Bank. Since 2020, incidents related to settlers targeting Palestinian and Palestinian societies have increased by about seven times. The number of documented incidents increased to 330 in 2024, compared to only 50 in 2020, according to the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.