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<h1 class="article-title">Explosion of Infectious Disease in Gaza
Threatens Public Health</h1>
<div class="article-subtitledetails">
<span class="article-details">
<span class="article-detail"><img class="icon"
src="cid:part1.08080105.01080102@freedomarchives.org"
alt="author"> Monday August 04, 2014 02:49</span><span
class="article-detail"><img class="icon"
src="cid:part2.02090703.02060500@freedomarchives.org"
alt="author"> by IMEMC News - Gaza Ministry of Health</span></span>
<br>
<small><b><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.imemc.org/article/68739">http://www.imemc.org/article/68739</a></small></b></small><br>
</div>
<blockquote class="article-intro"><i>Official Press Release -
Ministry of Health</i></blockquote>
<p class="article">The people of Gaza face enormous barriers to
accessing primary health care, with only 10 of the government’s
56 Primary Health Care clinics operational, eight of UNRWA’s 22
clinics open, and most NGO clinics closed.<br>
<br>
The majority of displaced persons have no access whatsoever to
primary health care services.
This is at a time when there are urgent public health problems
arising from the Israeli offensive threatening the health of the
entire population.<br>
<br>
The destruction of the sole Gaza power plant leaves sewage pumps
incapacitated. The lack of electricity combined with the
destruction of at least 16 water wells has left 1.8 million
people without access to water, according to the latest OCHA
report.<br>
<br>
It also reports that some 10,000 homes have been completely
annihilated, and 450,000 people forcibly displaced, with 250,000
of them seeking shelter in UN facilities only able to cope with
a fifth of that number, and another 30,000 in government schools
and institutions.<br>
<br>
The over-crowding and lack of adequate water and sanitation
facilities has seen the incidence of viral meningitis skyrocket
from five per day, to 53 cases today.<br>
<br>
Diarrhoea and scabies are rampant in the overcrowded shelters,
with clean drinking water all but impossible to obtain.<br>
<br>
Hospitals are also coming under enormous pressure, with large
numbers of displaced treating them as safe havens. This has
created problems of electricity overload, garbage, high water
consumption, and sanitation crises.<br>
<br>
Decomposing bodies whose retrieval has been prevented by Israeli
shelling and aerial attacks continue to pose a significant risk
to public health. Although dozens have been retrieved during
brief ceasefires, an unknown number, possibly in the hundreds,
still remain in Shujeiyah, Beit Hanoun, Khuza’a, and Rafah and
will significantly impact on the health of the population as
displaced persons return to their neighbourhoods.<br>
<br>
The Ministry of Health Gaza calls on national and international
organisations to immediately address the looming public health
crisis by:<br>
<br>
1) restoring the electricity supply as a matter of urgency;<br>
2) providing adequate water & sanitation facilities in
shelters for displaced persons;<br>
3) providing Hygiene Kits to displaced persons;<br>
4) restoring the sewage pumping capacity as a matter of urgency;<br>
5) providing access to potable water to all residents of Gaza;<br>
6) restoring water wells as a matter of urgency;<br>
7) providing longer-term shelters for the tens of thousands of
displaced persons whose homes have been completely destroyed,
until rebuilding is possible, and<br>
8) restoring Gaza’s four evacuated hospitals, especially the
Wafa Rehabilitation Hospital and Al Durrah Paediatric Hospital,
to operational capacity as soon as possible.<br>
<br>
<i>Contacts:<br>
Dr Yousef AbuAlrish, Deputy Minister of Health: +972 597 918
339<br>
Dr Medhat Abbas, Director General, Ministry of Health: +972
599 403 547<br>
</i> </p>
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<div class="article-related-link-relatedlink">Related Link(s): <a
href="http://imemc.org/newswire?search_text=ministry+of+health&button=Search+%3E%3E"
title="http://imemc.org/newswire?search_text=ministry+of+health&button=Search+%3E%3E">http://imemc.org/newswire?search_text=ministry+of+healt...3E%3E</a></div>
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