Diseases such as chicken pox, meningitis and upper respiratory tract infections are spreading in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian and international medical officials said, as living conditions deteriorate due to the siege and the ongoing Israeli offensive.
Around 160,000 to 165,000 cases of diarrhea were recorded among children under the age of five, a senior official from the World Health Organization (WHO) said at a press conference this Tuesday (12), describing the number as “ much bigger” than normal.
Cases of impetigo, meningitis and jaundice have also been recorded in the territory, according to Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The UN health organization is trying to set up mobile laboratories in Gaza to analyze jaundice samples, Peeperkorn added.
He warned that poor living conditions were contributing to the spread of disease.
About 80% of the Gaza Strip’s population was displaced as the Israeli military sent thousands of people into increasingly smaller areas amid the ground offensive against Hamas.
Medicines and other vital medical supplies have been cut off or limited by the Gaza border blockade of almost all international aid.
More than 130,000 cases of respiratory tract infections and 35,000 cases of skin rashes have been recorded, the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said in a report published on Monday (11).
At least 4,395 cases of chickenpox, 17,511 cases of lice and 19,325 cases of scabies were recorded, according to the report.
The spread of disease has put further pressure on the health system in Gaza, which the WHO’s Peeperkorn described as being “on its knees”.
Only 11 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially functional, Peeperkorn said, highlighting the challenges posed by staff shortages and rising patient numbers.
“Doctors are forced to prioritize who receives care and who does not. And they are treating many of the serious cases immediately in the hallways or on the floor or even in the chapel,” she highlighted.
Source: CNN Brasil
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