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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/01/13/gazas-heath-workers-and-aid-agencies-face-impossible-choices/">peoplesdispatch.org</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Gaza's heath workers and aid agencies face impossible choices<br></h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Ana Vračar</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">January 13, 2024<br></div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><img src="cid:ii_lrceizxk0" alt="2023-Gaza-bombings-attacks-on-healthcare-in-Palestine-healthcare-in-Gaza-hospitals-under-attack.jpg" width="391" height="220"><br><p>Children
were injured as a result of a targeting in the Nuseirat camp in the
central Gaza Strip (Photo: Al Awda Health and Community Association)
</p><div>
<p><span>Triage is the term that most accurately summarizes what is
happening to health services in Gaza. Every hour, health workers have to
determine who among the dozens of patients lying on the hospital floors
should be treated first. Doctors and nurses also have to decide who
gets paracetamol or ibuprofen for procedures that would usually be
performed while patients are under anesthesia, and who goes without even
that.</span></p>
<p><span>There is also a third form of triage going on in the proximity
of Gaza these days, and that one falls upon the people trying to get
supplies into the Strip. Despite reassurances that they would allow aid
to be distributed more easily, Israeli authorities are still obstructing
deliveries. Knowing that only a fraction of what is needed will
eventually be allowed in, international and humanitarian organizations
are choosing—very, very carefully—what they will load on to their
trucks.</span></p>
<p><span>It’s a difficult choice, </span><a href="https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1745089720546164760"><span>explained</span></a><span>
Michael Ryan, Executive Director of the World Health Organization’s
(WHO) Health Emergencies Program, during the organization’s
beginning-of-the-year press conference. “Do you replace a truck of food
with a truck of lab supplies? Which truck has more priority?“</span></p>
<h3><b><i>Read: </i></b><a href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/01/10/2023-was-deadliest-year-for-palestinians-in-the-west-bank-since-2005/"><b><i>2023 was deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since 2005</i></b></a></h3>
<p><span>There is no good answer to Ryan’s question. Almost </span><a href="https://www.ipcinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ipcinfo/docs/IPC_Gaza_Acute_Food_Insecurity_Nov2023_Feb2024.pdf"><span>everyone</span></a><span> in Gaza is facing food insecurity. All </span><a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/statement-unicef-risk-famine-gaza-strip"><span>children</span></a><span>
below the age of 5—335,000 of them—are hungry and facing a lifetime of
struggle with the consequences of stunting. Due to the food shortage,
more than half of pregnant and breastfeeding women only have access to
limited types of food, which impacts theirs and children’s health,
according to a </span><a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/98/international-development-committee/news/199273/healthcare-situation-in-gaza-idc-update-from-unwra-medical-aid-for-palestinians-and-the-palestinian-red-crescent-society/"><span>testimony</span></a><span> by Rohan Talbot from Medical Aid for Palestinians, heard by the International Development Committee of the British Parliament.</span></p>
<p><span>On the other hand, the lack of medical supplies, combined with
relentless bombardments, has brought about the total collapse of the
public health system in Gaza. For decades, the Central Public Health
Laboratory in Gaza ensured high-quality public health services. Located
north of the Wadi Gaza line, the laboratory is no longer functional. The
lack of laboratory capacities means that it is only possible to
evaluate the spread of infectious diseases from what is obvious at first
glance. There is no way to confirm what are the specific causes leading
to e.g. respiratory problems<br>
</span></p>
<p><span>“We don’t have the means to verify why specific communicable
diseases are appearing. We don’t have a way to see what particular
pathogen is causing them,” said Teresa Zakaria from WHO’s Health
Emergency Program. Because of that, it is impossible to know which
measures should be put in place to mitigate the increase in morbidity.</span></p>
<p><span>Even if the WHO were able to pinpoint which measures are needed
right now, it is extremely unlikely they would be permitted to
implement them. Like all other organizations trying to maintain a
lifeline to Gaza, the UN’s health agency is not really allowed in. “We
have the supplies, the teams, and the plans in place. What we don’t have
is access,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.</span></p>
<p><span>The WHO had planned 7 missions into Gaza since December 26, but
was forced to cancel all of them as Israel failed to provide security
guarantees. It’s not just the WHO’s experience. Of the 21 missions that
various UN bodies had planned in January 2024 alone, 16 were canceled
because of the lack of cooperation by the Israeli occupation, reported
Richard Peeperkorn, head of the WHO’s office for the occupied
Palestinian territories.</span></p>
<p><span>Meanwhile, the Israeli army continues to target hospitals and
other medical infrastructure in Gaza. Four members of the Palestine Red
Crescent Society staff were </span><a href="https://twitter.com/PalestineRCS/status/1745151413280518375/photo/1"><span>killed</span></a><span>
on January 10 when Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) hit their vehicle.
Days before, the 5-year-old daughter of a staff member of Médecins Sans
Frontières (MSF) </span><a href="https://www.msf.org/gaza-msf-condemns-strike-shelter-killed-staff-members-five-year-old-daughter"><span>died</span></a><span> from the consequences of an IOF attack on the shelter where MSF workers and their families were seeking refuge.</span></p>
<p><span>Those who are still alive share the faith of their patients.
Ghada Al Jadba, UNRWA health officer, stressed to the UK International
Development Committee that health workers are themselves displaced,
having no safe space to sleep or water to drink. Tents, said Al Jadba,
are a luxury. She also said that people were increasingly feeling
dehumanized and alienated as a result of Israel’s attacks and,
presumably, the unwillingness of the international community to act to
stop the genocide immediately.</span></p>
<p><span>For those on the ground, safeguarding the remnants of the
health system in Gaza is looking more and more like “mission
impossible,” as Al Jadba put it.</span></p>
<p><b><i>People’s Health Dispatch</i></b> <i><span>is a fortnightly bulletin published by the</span></i> <a href="http://www.phmovement.org/"><b><i>People’s Health Movement</i></b></a> <i><span>and Peoples Dispatch. For more articles and to subscribe to People’s Health Dispatch, click</span></i> <a href="https://peoples-health-dispatch.ghost.io/"><b><i>here</i></b></a><i><span>.</span></i></p>
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