Children in Gaza Face Diseases in Unsanitary Tent Camps
DEIR AL-BALAH, Palestine
(Dispatches) – Hundreds of Palestinian families who have fled Israeli attacks and sought refuge in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip are exposed to various diseases in tents lacking hygienic conditions.
Due to the extreme overcrowding of the camps, lack of hygiene, and the accumulation of wastewater in the area, Gazan children are visiting the health tent in the area with complaints of skin diseases, scabies, and rashes.
Palestinian doctors working in the health tent are trying to treat the children with limited resources.
Speaking to Anadolu, Doctor Samih Ahmed, who works in the health tent, said that few volunteer health workers are providing services to the displaced Gazans who have taken refuge in the camp.
With the population in the camp increasing and the infrastructure in the area destroyed, wastewater has reached living areas, said Ahmed, warning that hygienic conditions cannot be ensured in the region where access to water is limited.
As a result, epidemic skin diseases such as scabies, chickenpox, and rashes have increased among Gazans, he said.
Ahmed underlined that the wastewater flowing from the streets and seeping into the tents has caused an increase in insects, leading to various diseases.
With the arrival of the summer season, there have been many cases of skin burns, Ahmed noted.
Polio Vaccine Campaign ‘Hurt’
The World Health Organisation is working on a polio vaccination campaign for Gaza after the virus was detected there, officials say, although the absence of a ceasefire in the Zionist regime’s aggression against Palestinians presents multiple roadblocks.
Gaza’s health ministry declared a polio epidemic in the Palestinian enclave last month, blaming the Zionist regime’s ongoing military onslaughts.
While no clinical cases have been found so far, polio was detected in sewage in Gaza’s Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis governorates, Dr. Hamid Jafari, a WHO polio specialist, said during a news conference on Wednesday, adding it was possible the virus had been circulating since September.
Children under five are most at risk from the viral disease, and especially infants under two since normal vaccination campaigns have been disrupted by ten months of conflict.
While vaccines necessary to immunize half a million children against the outbreak were available, delivery into the Palestinian territory and the kind of door-to-door, or tent-to-tent, delivery necessary in Gaza was difficult given restricted freedom of movement due to the Zionist regime’s bombing, officials said.
“We need a ceasefire, even a temporary ceasefire to successfully undertake these campaigns. Otherwise, we risk the virus spreading further, including across borders,” said Hanan Balkhy, regional WHO Director.
Poliomyelitis, which is spread mainly through the fecal-oral route, is a highly infectious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis. Cases of polio have declined by 99% worldwide since 1988 thanks to mass vaccination campaigns and efforts continue to eradicate it completely.
Balkhy also pointed out the risk of the development of antimicrobial resistance within Gaza, and the possibility of such strains spreading into other countries.
Gaza had recorded 24 times the normal rate of diarrhea cases, as well as more than 100,000 cases of scabies and lice, and 70,000 cases of skin rashes as a result of overcrowding, overflowing sewage, and contaminated water, said Dr. Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territory.