UN chief urges temporary halt in Gaza to facilitate polio vaccination
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Friday for a ceasefire in Gaza to allow humanitarians to safely vaccinate over half a million children against polio, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
"I am appealing to all parties to provide concrete assurances right away guaranteeing humanitarian pauses for the campaign," he said, speaking to reporters at UN Headquarters in New York."Lets be clear: The ultimate vaccine for polio is peace and an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. But in any case, a Polio Pause is a must."
Guterres described Gaza as being in "a humanitarian freefall" because "just when it seems the situation could not get worse for Palestinians in Gaza, the suffering grows and the world watches."
Poliovirus was recently detected in sewage samples in two locations, Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah, meaning that the disease which can cause paralysis - is circulating in the enclave and putting thousands of children at risk.
"Polio does not care about dividing lines and polio does not wait," he said
Starting at the end of the month, the UN is set to launch a two-phase campaign to vaccinate more than 640,000 children in Gaza under the age of 10.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has already approved the release of 1.6 million doses of the polio vaccine and the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) is coordinating delivery efforts and the cold chain equipment needed for storage.
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