UNICEF, UNRWA, WHO and partners, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, are launching an integrated catch-up campaign for routine immunization, nutrition, and growth monitoring in the Gaza Strip to reach 44,000 children cut off from essential life-saving services by two years of conflict.
The campaign will be implemented in three rounds to reach children with three doses of Pentavalent, Polio, Rota & Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine and two dose of Measles, Mumps, Rubella vaccine. The first round of the campaign will take place from 9 to 18 November.
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It is estimated that 1 in 5 children under three years of age are either zero-dose or have missed vaccinations because of the conflict, putting them at risk of vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks. The catch-up campaign aims to provide these children with routine childhood vaccines that protect against measles, mumps, and rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, tuberculosis, polio, rotavirus and pneumonia.
To help address the devastating impacts of the conflict on children’s health and nutrition, UNICEF and partners will also screen these children for malnutrition and ensure those identified with malnutrition receive treatment and ongoing follow-up. Children with complications due to moderate and severe acute malnutrition will be treated at WHO-supported inpatient stabilization centers.
“After two years of relentless violence that claimed the lives of more than 20,000 children in the Gaza Strip, we finally have an opportunity to protect those who survived,” said Jonathan Veitch, UNICEF Special Representative in the State of Palestine. “Vaccinating every child, and supporting their health and nutrition, is not just a humanitarian intervention; it is a moral imperative. It is how we safeguard the future of children born into catastrophe and begin to rebuild hope in the midst of devastation.”
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“This immunization campaign is a lifeline, protecting children’s health and restoring hope for the future,” said Dr Richard Peeperkorn, WHO Representative in the occupied Palestinian territory. “It’s a crucial step in strengthening essential health services and protecting vulnerable children in Gaza who have been cut off for far too long. Yet this is only one piece of the puzzle. Much more is needed, and WHO is working to rebuild Gaza’s fragile health system so every child, every community, can access the care they deserve.”
