The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, called on Friday for a weeklong cease-fire in Gaza to allow vaccinations to prevent an outbreak of polio, saying that many children were at risk. He spoke just a few hours before the first case of polio in the enclave in many years was confirmed in a statement from the Gaza health ministry.
“Preventing and containing the spread of polio will take a massive, coordinated and urgent effort,” Mr. Guterres said, adding, “It is impossible to conduct a polio vaccination campaign with war raging all over.” He also warned that the disease could spread to neighboring countries if it were not quickly contained.
Polio is a highly infectious disease that mostly affects young children, attacking the nervous system and potentially leading to spinal and respiratory paralysis, and in some cases death. The virus that causes it was found circulating in wastewater in Gaza in July.
Children are estimated to make up about half of Gaza’s population of some 2.2 million, and the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics estimated in May that more than 340,000 were under the age of 5. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative, a public-private partnership led by the World Health Organization, said that vaccination rates were high until the war began more than 10 months ago.
According to the World Health Organization, the disease has existed since prehistoric times, and has been eradicated in much of the world since vaccination campaigns began in the 1950s. Its resurgence in Gaza — which the United Nations said had been polio-free for 25 years — reflects the destruction of the territory’s waste and water systems, which, along with malnourishment bordering on famine, has caused a multitude of grave health threats for Palestinians sealed in the territory. After the virus was found in the enclave’s wastewater, the Israeli military said it would begin vaccinating soldiers in Gaza.
The W.H.O. and UNICEF, the U.N. agency for children, have also called for a pause in the war to conduct vaccinations in Gaza. The Israeli agency that oversees policy for the Palestinian territories, known as COGAT, said in a weekly update on its activities on Friday that it would be working with the W.H.O. and UNICEF on the vaccination campaign.