Polio vaccine campaign kicks off in Sunday ahead of temporary truce

FRANCE 24 English

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00Babies at this hospital in southern Gaza were among the first in the war-torn enclave

00:04to receive the vaccine against polio as part of the UN-led emergency campaign.

00:10It comes after UN officials said a baby was left partially paralysed after contracting

00:15the territory's first case of the disease in a quarter of a century.

00:20I was worried and afraid because this is scary, the polio disease. This disease makes the

00:26children unable to move, eat or drink.

00:31According to the WHO, Israel agreed earlier in the week to humanitarian pauses in fighting

00:36to facilitate the campaign, which officially begins on Sunday.

00:40The campaign is to be carried out in three phases in central, southern and northern Gaza,

00:45and during each phase, fighting is expected to halt between 6am and 3pm local time for

00:51three consecutive days.

00:53For the territory's deputy health minister, this isn't enough.

00:58If the international community truly wants this campaign to succeed, it should call for

01:03a ceasefire, knowing that this virus does not stop and can reach anywhere.

01:09A highly contagious disease that mainly affects young children, polio is most often transmitted

01:14through contaminated water and sewage. A problem that is becoming increasingly widespread on

01:19the ground as the Israel-Hamas conflict rages on.

01:23Very large numbers of people are living in 4x4 tents, 4-metre tents. Sometimes 12 people,

01:30sometimes 20 people stand in queues to use these. The sewage water that runs between

01:36these tents and clean water, if it exists, some of it is polluted.

01:40The campaign, which involves two doses that are given orally, is targeting some 640,000

01:45children under the age of 10, with vaccines administered by UN staff and other local health

01:50workers.

Category

Transcript

Recommended