[Japan UNICEF Association] First round of mass polio vaccination in Gaza completed; about 560,000 children administered; UNICEF announces [Press release]
*Japan UNICEF Association*
Press release: September 17, 2024
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First round of mass polio vaccination completed in Gaza; about 560,000 children administered; UNICEF and others announced [Press release] UNICEF staff administer polio vaccine to children at a clinic in central Gaza Strip, Gaza Strip, September 2, 2024 (C)
UNICEF_UNI637065_El Baba
[September 13, 2024 Jerusalem/Amman (Jordan)/Geneva]
During the first emergency mass immunization of polio vaccine, which was carried out in three phases in the Gaza Strip from September 1 to 12, 2024, the vaccine was administered to approximately 560,000 people under the age of 10. UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) and others have announced.
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After careful planning and coordination, the 12-day mass immunization campaign administered the new live oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) to 558,963 children. This effort utilized an extensive network of teams administering vaccines at fixed, pre-determined locations such as health facilities and field offices. Mobile and transport teams actively reached out to families living in shelters, tents and IDP camps. In addition, local health workers worked with each household before and during the mass vaccination period to ensure awareness. During each phase, a nine-hour daily humanitarian pause in fighting was agreed in identified areas to ensure the safety of communities and health staff, and to ensure the implementation of vaccination activities.
Jean Gough, UNICEF Special Representative for Palestine, said: “It was vital that this ambitious operation was implemented quickly, safely and effectively to protect children in the Gaza Strip and neighboring countries from the life-changing polio virus. While the progress made with vaccinations is encouraging, We still have a long way to go. We are poised to complete this mission, and we are calling on everyone everywhere to ensure we do so with the second mass vaccination scheduled in four weeks. It’s for the children here.”
Partners from all walks of life are addressing the challenges of access, including devastated infrastructure from health facilities to roads, a lack of trained health staff, and insecurity, to safely storing vaccines and freezing ice packs. We understand the common operational challenges faced during this effort, such as a lack of fuel for generators to keep things running and the constant movement of residents. However, these issues were addressed in a timely manner with key support from the Palestinian Ministry of Health and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to enable planned vaccination activities.
A mobile team of health workers worked from 6am to 2pm every day to ensure vaccination coverage, especially in areas with low vaccination coverage (Gaza Strip, September 2, 2024)
(C) UNICEF_UNI637047_El Bab
Despite these challenges and the conditions that families in the Gaza Strip have endured for the past 11 months, families flocked to health facilities to get their children vaccinated. This is due to the traditional positive health behavior of the Palestinian people and effective awareness campaigns to raise awareness and mobilize people.
The original target was estimated to be 640,000 children due to the lack of accurate fact-finding, but as the population continues to move from place to place, and ongoing hostilities continue to cause people to evacuate or die. This number may be higher than the actual number, given that During the vaccination drive, a trained monitoring team was deployed to supervise the vaccination activities.
As a next step, a further 65 independent experts will be deployed to cross-check the proportion of children vaccinated across the Gaza Strip and provide an independent assessment of coverage achieved in the first round. . They need safe and unhindered access. This allows us to visit homes, markets, transport hubs and health facilities and check children with a clear purple ink mark on their pinky finger at the time of vaccination. These efforts allow us to independently measure immunization success and the reasons why some children are not vaccinated.
To stop polio outbreaks and prevent global spread, a second mass immunization will be conducted, ideally within four weeks, to give children in the Gaza Strip a booster dose of nOPV2.
To repeat this ambitious effort, immunize enough children, and stop further transmission of the poliovirus, UNICEF and other agencies have imposed another humanitarian cessation of fighting on all parties to the conflict. and calls for ensuring unhindered access to children in the region who require special accommodations.
At the end of the day, all families in Gaza need peace so they can get their lives back and start rebuilding, and that requires a lasting ceasefire.
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■ UNICEF “Gaza Humanitarian Crisis Emergency Fundraising” Request for cooperation
In order to support children affected by the fighting in Palestine, including the Gaza Strip, the Japan Committee for UNICEF has launched the UNICEF “Gaza Humanitarian Crisis Initiative”.
We are accepting emergency donations. Click here for more information. https://www.unicef.or.jp/kinkyu/gaza/
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■ About UNICEF
UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) is a United Nations agency that works to promote the rights and healthy development of all children. We are currently working with many partners in approximately 190 countries and regions* to translate our philosophy into concrete actions in a variety of ways. We work for all children, everywhere in the world, with a particular focus on supporting those most in need. UNICEF’s activities are funded entirely by donations from individuals, companies, and organizations, as well as voluntary contributions from governments around the world.
https://www.unicef.org
*Includes 33 countries and regions where UNICEF National Committees (UNICEF Association) are active
■ About Japan UNICEF Association
Public interest incorporated foundation
The Japan Committee for UNICEF is one of the UNICEF national committees in 33 developed countries and regions, and as the only private organization representing UNICEF in Japan, it is responsible for public relations, fundraising, and policy advocacy for UNICEF activities. I am.
https://www.unicef.or.jp