Despite the severe blockade for many years, the Gaza Strip has enjoyed a high and remarkable rate of routine vaccination, to the point where it is almost free of any mobile epidemics. However, the Israeli aggression on the Strip since October 2023, which mainly targeted health facilities and hospitals, has led to a disruption in all health services, including vaccination, which has led to the spread of diseases that can be prevented by vaccines.
According to the World Health Organization, isolated cases of measles and mumps, more than 600,000 cases of upper respiratory infections, and numerous cases of meningitis, hepatitis, rash, scabies, lice and chickenpox have been reported.
The risk of further disease outbreaks remains high due to several factors, including overcrowding, lack of water and sanitation, disruption of routine health care services and a faltering health system.
poliomyelitis
The World Health Organization issued a statement on July 19 and updated it with additional information on July 21, indicating that the spread of the poliovirus type 2 strain has been confirmed in the Gaza Strip. The virus was isolated from 6 wastewater samples, collected from two different sampling sites in two sub-areas inside Gaza, on June 23.
On July 29, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip posted a statement on its Facebook page declaring Gaza a polio epidemic zone. According to the World Health Organization, polio is a highly contagious disease that mostly affects young children, mercilessly attacks the nervous system and can lead to spinal and respiratory paralysis, and in some cases death.
Given the ideal routine vaccination rates in Gaza before the start of the Israeli aggression on the Strip, polio vaccination coverage was estimated at 99% in 2022, declining to 89% in 2023, according to the latest routine vaccination estimates from WHO and UNICEF.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health stated – according to the Palestinian Information Center – that the program to combat the epidemic launched by the ministry in cooperation with UNICEF and the World Health Organization will not be sufficient unless immediate measures are taken to end the aggression. It called for finding radical solutions to the problems of drinking water, personal hygiene, repairing sewage networks, and removing tons of accumulated garbage and solid waste.
Hepatitis
The organization notes that the epidemiological situation in the Gaza Strip is dire, with surveillance revealing outbreaks of diarrheal diseases and hepatitis A. A New York Times article quoted the World Health Organization as saying that more than 100,000 people in Gaza have been infected with acute jaundice syndrome or suspected hepatitis A, since the start of the Israeli aggression on Gaza.
Hepatitis A is caused by the hepatitis A virus. It is usually acquired by eating or drinking food or drink contaminated with the feces of an infected person, and is more common in areas with poor sanitation.
According to data from UNRWA’s health programme, 800 to 1,000 new hepatitis cases are reported weekly from UNRWA health centres and shelters across Gaza. Hepatitis cases have risen from just 85 cases reported before the war to nearly 40,000 since the war began.
“Hepatitis A is rampant in Gaza during the war,” said Dr. Ghada Al-Jadba, Head of UNRWA’s Health Programme in the Gaza Strip. “Families have been displaced and live in dire and inhumane conditions in overcrowded camps and shelters, lacking access to clean water, hygiene supplies, waste management and proper sanitation. This crisis continues to make it extremely difficult for UNRWA’s health programme to respond to patients’ needs,” according to a statement published by UNRWA on its website.
skin desies
Desalination plants in the northern Gaza Strip have stopped operating in the entire Gaza Strip for 40 days as a result of the occupation’s bombing and the halt in the entry of diesel, which has forced residents to use polluted water, and this has had an impact on the lives of children in shelters, with fears of the spread of disease due to overcrowding.
The World Health Organization indicated that until June 30, there were more than 100,000 cases of scabies and lice in the sector, 60,000 cases of skin rash, and 11,000 cases of chickenpox.
Kamal Adwan Hospital Director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya said in an interview with Al Jazeera that a staphylococcus bacteria has begun to appear among children, and that one or two cases of children infected with this bacteria were diagnosed with it during the day. However, after the current aggression that destroyed the infrastructure of the Strip, about 200 cases are now diagnosed with it daily.
The staphylococcus bacteria that Dr. Abu Safia talked about are Staphylococcus aureus or Streptococcus pyogenes, which are responsible for causing impetigo.
Bacteria can infect the skin in two main ways: through damage to healthy skin such as a cut, insect bite or other injury, known as primary impetigo, or through skin damaged by another skin condition such as head lice, scabies or eczema, known as secondary impetigo.
Given that the condition does not cause any symptoms until 4 to 10 days after initial exposure to the bacteria, it is often easily transmitted to others.
Gaza’s children are left to deal with the only skin condition that can cause life-threatening complications. While this disease can be treated with antibiotics, if left untreated it can lead to life-threatening conditions such as chronic heart and kidney disease.
Chronic diseases…suffering on top of suffering
After months of long war (about 10 months so far), patients have been subjected to the woes of disease, siege and war. In addition to the shortage of food and medicine, death by bombing and direct killing, patients with chronic diseases are fighting their own difficult wars that no one knows about.
The Thalassemia Friends Association in Palestine stated that since the beginning of the war, 24 thalassemia patients have been martyred, 7 of them due to the bombing, and 17 due to the deterioration of the health system, and 300 patients are suffering from a serious deterioration in their health condition, severe malnutrition, and respiratory diseases.
Mr. Ibrahim Abdullah, coordinator of the Thalassemia Patients Friends Association in Palestine, pointed out that there are difficulties in providing blood units to patients, because all people suffer from anemia. Iron-reducing medications are also completely unavailable in the Strip, which may lead to the death of patients as a result of iron accumulation in their bodies.
Multiple blood transfusions, ineffective red blood cell formation, and increased absorption of iron in the digestive tract all lead to excess iron in the body. Excess iron weakens the immune system, putting patients at greater risk of infection and disease.
Kidney patients are suffering from another form of the complex war. The Ministry of Health in Gaza stated in a press conference about the repercussions of the shortage of medical supplies in the kidney dialysis departments that 1,200 kidney failure patients are at risk of being deprived of receiving dialysis sessions, and thus entering into serious health complications.
The Ministry of Health explained that kidney dialysis centers are now threatened with stopping service, and noted that patients who have undergone kidney transplants are in dire need of enhanced medications that help them maintain the transplant process and avoid complications that may return them to kidney dialysis machines.
The Ministry pointed out that the pediatric dialysis department at Al-Rantisi Hospital, the only one in the Gaza Strip, is in dire need of providing tubes and medical supplies for the 35 sick children.
The war has exacerbated the suffering of cancer patients, those with high blood pressure, diabetes and other chronic diseases, due to the shortage of medicines, malnutrition and the collapse of the health system.
According to the World Health Organization, about 350,000 people with chronic diseases live in the Gaza Strip, and the shortage of essential medicines and the closure of health facilities threaten 52,000 diabetics, 45,000 asthmatics, 45,000 cardiovascular patients and 225,000 hypertensive patients.