GAZA - The second phase of a two-round campaign to vaccinate more than half a million young children in Gaza against polio began in Khan Younis on Thursday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees Agency (UNRWA) said in a post on the social network X, formerly Twitter.
The campaign has moved to the southern areas of the Gaza Strip after the first phase in the centre of the enclave was successfully completed, mainly due to the cessation of fighting.
UNRWA and partners provided the first dose of polio vaccine to children under 10 years of age at the Japanese Health Centre in the devastated town of Khan Younis.
One mother said she rushed to get her children vaccinated "because she was afraid polio would spread due to sanitation and lack of hygiene, especially in the absence of cleaning products."
A top humanitarian will be attending
Sigrid Kaag, UN Senior Coordinator for Humanitarian Relief and Reconstruction in Gaza, visited the Japanese clinic and participated in the administration of vaccines to several children. It was a symbolic gesture to underline the importance of the campaign.
"You see people who are proud to be here, protecting their children and getting them vaccinated. And at the end of the day, it shows that when there is political will, a lot is possible on the humanitarian front. That's what we need. This is a prime example of that," she said.
Over the next four days, health workers will target approximately 340,000 children, in the southern part of Gaza. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 517 teams will be deployed, including 384 mobile teams.
The third and final phase will be implemented in northern Gaza from 9 to 11 September and will target approximately 150,000 boys and girls.
Urgent response
The overall campaign aims to provide two drops of the new oral polio vaccine type 2 to more than 640,000 children under the age of 10 during each round.
It is part of an urgent response to prevent the spread of polio, which has re-emerged in Gaza after 25 years, following the detection of circulating variant poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) in six environmental samples taken in the central Gaza Strip in June.
The campaign is implemented by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in collaboration with WHO, UNRWA, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and other humanitarian partners.
un.org / gnews.cz-jav_07
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