UN polio vaccination drive in Gaza relying on pauses in fighting

United Nations officials are preparing to launch a polio vaccination campaign in Gaza on Sept 1 that will rely on a series of limited pauses in fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas militants holding out in the besieged enclave.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says it will need to vaccinate at least 90 per cent of the children in Gaza for the campaign to succeed, but it faces huge challenges in the Palestinian enclave, which has been largely destroyed by nearly 11 months of war.

The campaign has been organised after the WHO said on Aug 23 that a baby had been paralysed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years, and UN agencies appealed for an urgent vaccination effort.

The WHO named the baby as Abdul-Rahman Abu Al-Jidyan. He will turn one year old on Sept 1.

His mother, Ms Nivine Abu AlJidyan, said she feared for her son after she was told by health officials that they could do little to help him.

"I was shocked that my son got this disease amid the war and the closure of border crossings, under these conditions and lack of medicine for him, it's a shock. Would he remain like this?" Ms Abu AlJidyan said on Aug 29.