4 September 2024, over 187 000 children under ten years of age were vaccinated with novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) in central Gaza during the first phase of a two-round polio vaccination campaign, conducted between 1–3 September 2024. Vaccination coverage in this phase exceeded the initial estimated target of 157 000 children due to...

16 August 2024, two rounds of a polio vaccination campaign are expected to be launched at the end of August and September 2024 across the Gaza Strip to prevent the spread of circulating variant type 2 poliovirus (cVDPV2).   WHO and UNICEF request all parties to the conflict to implement humanitarian pauses in the Gaza Strip for seven days to allow...

30 July 2024 - Jerusalem, Cairo, Geneva - Today, 85 sick and severely injured patients from Gaza were evacuated to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), for specialized care. This extremely complex joint evacuation was supported by the the World Health Organization (WHO) in partnership with the Government of the UAE and other partners. This is...

24 July 2024 - Sixteen people from Gaza with complicated medical conditions will arrive in Spain today to receive care there, through an evacuation process involving the World Health Organization (WHO) and multiple partners. Fifteen of them are children, ranging in age from 3 to 17 years old. The mother of one of the children will also be treated in...

Circulating variant type 2 poliovirus (cVDPV) has been confirmed in the Gaza Strip. Virus was isolated from six environmental (sewage) samples, collected from two different collection sites in two sub-regions within Gaza, collected on 23 June 2024. The variant poliovirus strains detected in six wastewater samples, collected from two environmental...

11 July 2024, Cairo, Egypt -- I have just returned from the occupied Palestinian territory, where I visited the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Jenin, and Gaza. The situation in Gaza is concerning on both a human and humanitarian level. I saw firsthand the scale of devastation: lives and homes in ruins, hospitals overwhelmed, and a fully...

WHO and the Government of Japan have signed a US$10 million agreement to bolster the emergency health response in Gaza amidst the ongoing conflict. The agreement, signed by H.E. Ambassador Nakashima and Dr. Richard Peepepkorn, WHO Representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, aims to reach an estimated one million people with life-saving...

‘I am terrified of losing my daughter’ As people of Gaza face catastrophic hunger, WHO, with support from European Union, is ensuring that nutrition stabilization centers are equipped to treat cases of severe acute malnutrition. GAZA, OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY, 19 APRIL 2024 -“My daughter is my life; she was like a flower. Now I can see her...

In the framework of France’s efforts to support the civilian population in Gaza and more particularly women and children, who are the first victims of this conflict. The French Development Agency (AFD) is increasing its support to health services in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank through a project developed jointly by UNICEF, WHO and UNFPA. The...

6 April 2024 - A WHO-led multi-agency mission accessed Al-Shifa Hospital in north Gaza on 5 April to conduct a preliminary assessment of the extent of destruction and identify needs to guide future efforts to restore the facility. The highly complex mission was conducted in close partnership with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of...