Infectious diseases are being allowed to run rampant in Gaza

Abstract

Without an immediate, permanent ceasefire and unrestricted aid, people in Gaza will continue to get ill and die from infectious diseases, writes Sameer Sah The multi-pronged public health and sanitation disaster, including destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure in Gaza, has strained the health system and resulted in the rapid spread of infectious diseases. More than 63% of buildings and 70% of sewage pumps1 have been damaged or destroyed, and no wastewater treatment plants are working.2 Most of the 1.9 million people who have been internally displaced3 are living in tents or sheltering in bombed-out buildings, with limited access to safe drinking water and facilities, and in streets full of untreated wastewater and sewage. Particularly worrying has been the re-appearance of polio. This June, variant poliovirus (cVDPV2) was detected in six sewage samples from different sites in Khan Yunis and Deir al-Balah, and, on 16 August, the Palestinian …