Charu Bahri

Opinion | Gaza polio case shows dangers of losing war against the disease

Creating conditions where routine health interventions cannot be delivered, as is the case in Gaza, risks disastrous consequences

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A Palestinian child is vaccinated against polio in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on September 10. Thousands of Palestinian children have missed important vaccinations because of the destruction wrought by Israel’s war against Hamas. Photo: Reuters

Charu Bahri

Published: 9:30am, 28 Sep 2024Updated: 12:26pm, 28 Sep 2024

A 10-month old Gazan boy left partially paralysed after contracting the circulating type 2 poliovirus in August was the territory’s first polio case in 25 years.

Although he did not contract the wild polio virus – which killed or paralysed more than half a million people annually before the development of vaccines – the vaccine-derived variant that paralysed one of his legs set alarm bells ringing in the world of medicine.

Every polio case in the world is tracked. In 2023, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 12 cases of the wild polio virus and 524 vaccine-derived poliovirus cases across 32 countries. Gaza’s victim was one of thousands of children who have not been immunised because of Israel’s war against Hamas.

Polio is a highly contagious virus transmitted through person-to-person contact or contaminated food or water. Poor hygiene and sanitation conditions, such as those in Gaza, can exacerbate the spread of the virus, especially among children who have not been immunised or are not fully vaccinated.

The speed with which the West engaged Israel to negotiate humanitarian pauses in the war to run an immunisation campaign in Gaza is indicative of the gravity of the matter. Boosting the immunity of 640,500 children under the age of 10 was vital to stop the virus from circulating locally, avert its cross-border spread and reduce the risk of a local recurrence.

A woman waits with children for polio vaccinations in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on September 5. Photo: AFP

A vaccination campaign involving administering two drops of the oral polio vaccine to every child has achieved the 90 per cent coverage the World Health Organization (WHO) targeted in the first of three rounds. However, that is just the first step. The second round is due to begin at end of September, and that will be just as challenging to carry out.