GAZA, (PIC)
The Palestinian Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip declared a polio epidemic in the besieged and bombarded enclave on Monday evening.
The Ministry stressed the situation “poses a health threat to the residents of Gaza and neighboring countries” and called it a “setback” to the global polio eradication program.
The ministry called for an “immediate intervention to end the aggression and find radical solutions” to the issues of lack of potable water and personal hygiene, damaged sewage networks, and the removal of tons of rubbish and solid waste.
On Friday, the World Health Organization said it was sending more than one million polio vaccines to Gaza to be administered over the coming weeks to prevent children from being infected after the virus was detected in sewage samples.
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 percent worldwide since 1988, thanks to mass vaccination campaigns, and efforts continue to eradicate it everywhere.
The UN reported last week that besides detecting the poliovirus, there has been a widespread increase in cases of hepatitis A, dysentery, and gastroenteritis as sanitary conditions deteriorate in Gaza.
