Gaza Declares ‘Polio Epidemic Area’, WHO Responds with Emergency Vaccine Shipment

The Gaza Health Ministry has officially declared the Palestinian territory a “polio epidemic area,” attributing the resurgence of the virus to the destruction of health infrastructure caused by Israel’s military campaign.

Poliomyelitis, a highly infectious disease that can cause paralysis and is transmitted through contaminated water and food, has seen a dramatic global decline due to widespread vaccination efforts. However, Gaza’s deteriorating conditions have revived the threat. The virus which is spread mainly through the fecal-oral route has been detected in sewage samples from Khan Yunis and central Gaza.

“I witnessed at first hand living conditions that are highly favorable for the spread of polio and other diseases,” said Dr Hanan Balkhy, World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, “This is an important time…to come together to act swiftly and decisively to contain this outbreak, for the children of Gaza.”

The Gaza Health Ministry, in collaboration with UNICEF, confirmed the presence of “component poliovirus type 2” in sewage earlier this month, particularly affecting areas where displaced families reside. “The brutal Israeli aggression that deprived the people of usable water, the destruction of the sanitation infrastructure, the accumulation of tonnes of garbage and a lack of food security” had led to the recurrence of the virus, the ministry said.

In response, the Director-General of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced that the vaccines will be administered to children in the coming weeks. He noted that no cases of polio have been recorded yet but without immediate action, it was “just a matter of time before it reaches the thousands of children who have been left unprotected.”

In a bid to prevent a polio epidemic in Gaza, UN humanitarians on Tuesday repeated continuing international calls for a ceasefire to allow the “more than a million polio vaccines” campaign to get underway.