JAKARTA - The World Health Organization (WHO) sent more than one million polio vaccines to Gaza to be administered over the coming weeks to prevent children from contracting it after the virus was detected in a waste sample.
"Although no polio cases have been recorded, without immediate action, it is only a matter of time before the disease reaches thousands of unprotected children," said Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
He said children under five were the group most at risk of contracting this virus disease, especially infants under the age of two because the normal vaccination campaign had been disrupted by conflict for more than nine months.
Polyomyelitis that spreads mainly through the fecal-oral pathway is a highly contagious virus that can attack the nervous system and cause paralysis. polio cases have decreased by 99 percent worldwide since 1988 thanks to the mass vaccination campaign and ongoing efforts to eradicate the disease completely.
The Israeli military previously said it would start offering polio vaccines to soldiers on duty in the Gaza Strip after remnants of the virus were found in test samples in the area.
In addition to polio, the United Nations last week reported a broad increase in cases of Hepatitis A, dysentery and gastroenteritis due to deteriorating sanitation conditions in Gaza, with waste spilled onto roads near several refugee camps.
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