In August, health officials recorded the first case of polio <https://apnews.com/article/gaza-israel-war-polio-first-case-871ee7c69be00424400d2667fee61958> in Gaza in more than 25 years, in an unvaccinated 10-month-old baby whose lower left leg became paralyzed by the virus. Sadness and frustration washed over me when I first heard the news. It is outrageous that polio — which is highly contagious and can cause paralysis, respiratory failure, cardiovascular collapse and even death — has been permitted to reappear in Gaza after being nearly eradicated across the globe.
In response, the World Health Organization and other groups began a huge campaign to vaccinate more than 640,000 children in Gaza. As a humanitarian worker with Medical Aid for Palestinians <https://www.map.org.uk/>, I’m part of that effort. I’ve worked tirelessly with our team and the W.H.O. to monitor the quality of the vaccination process. It is a daunting task to inoculate hundreds of thousands of children in an area under constant attack, especially because two doses are needed some weeks apart. And yet against all odds, we’ve been able to administer the first doses of the polio vaccine to 559,161 children. I have been heartened by the number of parents striving to protect their children from polio in such dangerous circumstances, and I am proud to be working on this huge public health effort. Nevertheless, the continued threats to these children’s lives is distressing. Israel’s military agreed to a series of “humanitarian pauses” <https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/08/29/world/israel-hamas-gaza-war/hfo-israel-has-emphasized-the-move-is-not-the-first-step-to-a-cease-fire?smid=url-share> in select locations <https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/08/29/world/israel-hamas-gaza-war/hfo-israel-has-emphasized-the-move-is-not-the-first-step-to-a-cease-fire?smid=url-share> for the vaccination campaign. But what is the logic of allowing the vaccination of children for polio today, when tomorrow they will be threatened by cholera or another disease? Or struck by bombs or other weapons? Or subject to starvation? Celebrating the success of the vaccination campaign rings hollow when other dangers facing children in Gaza remain. Because of Israel’s military offensive, we are witnessing conditions that could allow infectious diseases to run rampant throughout Gaza and break out into the rest of the region. *https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/14/opinion/gaza-polio-infectious-disease.html <https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/14/opinion/gaza-polio-infectious-disease.html> * How Israel’s Army Uses Palestinians as Human Shields in Gaza Israeli soldiers and Palestinian former detainees say troops have regularly forced captured Gazans to carry out life-threatening tasks, including inside Hamas tunnels. *https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/14/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-military-human-shields.html <https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/14/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-military-human-shields.html>* -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#32882): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/32882 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/109001760/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
