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Middle East conflict

WHO chief calls peace in Gaza as only lasting medicine against polio

The WHO said earlier that some 1.26 million polio vaccine doses had been delivered to the Gaza Strip and 400,000 doses more would arrive soon

GENEVA, August 30. /TASS/. World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip as the only way to protect children in the enclave against polio.

He said that it is planned to kick off a polio vaccination campaign from September 1. "We welcome the commitment to humanitarian pauses in specific areas, and suspension of evacuation orders for the implementation of the campaign," he said, adding that he hopes that all the parties will observe these pauses.

"But the only lasting medicine is peace. The only way to fully protect all the children of Gaza is a ceasefire," he stressed.

The WHO said earlier that some 1.26 million polio vaccine doses had been delivered to the Gaza Strip and 400,000 doses more would arrive soon. More than 2,180 healthcare workers have been trained to conduct vaccination, which is to cover more than 640,000 children under ten. The campaign will be carried out in several stages and will start from the central Gaza Strip. Then, it will continue in the southern Gaza and in northern Gaza. If necessary, immunization will be carried out in one day.

Palestine’s health ministry said on August 16 that the first polio case had been confirmed in the central Gaza Strip. According to the ministry, the first polio case was registered in the city of Deir al-Balah in a ten-month baby who had receives no vaccine dose. The diagnosis was confirmed in a laboratory in Amman.

On the same day, WHO and UNICEF issued a joint statement announcing a two-stage polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip in late August and September. "WHO and UNICEF request all parties to the conflict to implement humanitarian pauses in the Gaza Strip for seven days to allow for two rounds of vaccination campaigns to take place. These pauses in fighting would allow children and families to safely reach health facilities and community outreach workers to get to children who cannot access health facilities for polio vaccination. Without the humanitarian pauses, the delivery of the campaign will not be possible," said the document that was posted on UNICEF’s website.

Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease that largely affects children under 5 years of age. It is caused by the poliovirus that virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread and mainly affects nerves in the spinal cord or brain stem.

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