Health
Response
During the reporting period, 52 Health Cluster partners were active in Gaza, with 27 reporting on their response activities. As of 1 September, there were 15 Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs) supporting the local healthcare workforce, including three in northern Gaza.
The first round of the polio vaccination campaign commenced in central Gaza on 1 September, aiming to immunize 156,583 children under the age of 10 in the area. A total of 510 teams have been deployed across central Gaza to facilitate the vaccination effort. During the first day, a total of 86,683 children were vaccinated. The campaign will be undertaken in phases, focusing on one zone at a time - starting in central Gaza, before shifting to the south, and finally to the northern governorates. The campaign will last three consecutive days in each zone and will be extended by a fourth day if needed. Round two of the campaign will aim to administer the second dose of the vaccine in four weeks’ time. The overall objective is to reach over 640,000 children under 10 across the Gaza Strip in each of the two rounds. In total, 40 Health partners are participating in this joint endeavor; 17 of them operate health service points where vaccinations are being administered, while another 23 are involved in outreach efforts to inform communities about the campaign.
The restoration of health services continues at the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis, with the emergency and outpatient departments and two operating theatres having now resumed functionality. An EMT will also be deployed to the facility in the upcoming weeks.
At the Al Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, the new emergency department and the hemodialysis unit are currently operational.
A hemodialysis unit comprising 18 dialysis machines has been established at the new Az Zawaida Field Hospital in Deir al Balah, which was hastily opened by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), jointly with the Ministry of Health (MoH), in late August, to provide urgent care to patients who fled from the Al Aqsa Hospital.
Challenges
Health partners continue to face challenges in accessing health facilities in northern Gaza, which are now at risk of becoming non-functional due to severe fuel and supply shortages.
Persistent obstacles hampering the entry of humanitarian trucks through the Kerem Shalom Crossing are causing shortages of medical supplies throughout the Gaza Strip.
The lack of a systematic mechanism for the medical evacuation of critically ill and injured patients out of Gaza means that the waiting list of patients keeps growing while the clinical conditions of many of them continue to deteriorate.
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An OCHA staff member dispatching polio vaccines in Deir al Balah area of the Gaza Strip. Photo by OCHA/Themba Linden, 2 September 2024
