When girls complain to Gaza pediatrician Lobna al-Azaiza that they don’t have a comb, she tells them to cut their hair.
It’s not just about combs. Israel’s blockade of the territory, ravaged by 10 months of war, means there is little to no shampoo, soap, menstrual products or household cleaning supplies.
Garbage collection and sewage treatment have also collapsed, and it is easy to see why contagious diseases that thrive in overcrowding and poor cleanliness – such as scabies or fungal infections – are on the rise.
“In the past period, the most common illness we have seen has been rashes, skin diseases, which have many causes, including overcrowding in camps, increased heat inside tents, sweating among children and lack of sufficient water for bathing,” the doctor said.
Azaiza used to work at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia until Israeli tanks separated the north from the besieged southern enclave.
Like most doctors in Gaza, she has adapted and continues to treat patients, walking to work past her own ruined home, destroyed by an Israeli attack.
The tent clinic she set up with a small staff began treating children, but out of necessity it became a clinic for entire families. Most of them had also been ordered to evacuate their homes or had them bombed, like the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents.
Even the medications that are available are often unaffordable; a simple tube of burn ointment can cost the equivalent of more than $50.
International aid deliveries have been drastically reduced since Israel seized control of the Rafah border crossing from Egypt, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.
Israel denies responsibility for delays in getting urgent humanitarian aid, saying the UN and others are responsible for distribution inside the enclave.
Azaiza has no doubts about what the immediate solution is:
“The border crossing needs to be opened so we can bring in medicines, as most of the current ones are ineffective: zero effect, no effect on the skin diseases we see.”
Source: CNN Brasil
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