Gaza polio vaccination campaign day 2: tens of thousands more children protected
The UN-led mass polio vaccination campaign entered its second day in central Gaza on Monday with pauses in fighting holding sufficiently for thousands more children to receive their dose, in addition to the 87,000 who received their first round on Sunday, UN agencies said.
On day two of the vaccination drive, the UN agency UNRWA reported vaccinating 15,000 people in one school-turned-shelter alone on Monday.
With more, here’s UNRWA spokesperson Louise Wateridge:
“There were 87,000 vaccinated on the first day out of 156,000 that we are hoping to reach in the Middle Area,” said Louise Wateridge, Senior Communications Officer for UNWRA, the largest UN agency in the Gaza Strip. “It’s very promising that already, we have heard interest from parents who have come from Khan Younis, who have come from the southern area, and are asking our staff there and asking our teams, ‘When is the vaccination going to be available for us? When can we take our children?’”
The UNRWA officer emphasized the urgent need for a ceasefire for the inoculation campaign to be successful, along with the release of all hostages taken during Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel on 7 October.
The initial three-day campaign in Gaza’s Middle Area to protect around 640,000 Palestinian youngsters from the highly infectious disease comes after health authorities detected the first case of polio in Gaza in 25 years. To offer maximum protection, children will need to receive two doses of the vaccine at a four-week interval. More than 1.2 million vaccine doses have been delivered to Gaza, with an additional 400,000 doses expected soon.
A teenager in Cambodia has died from avian flu but risk of spread is low, says UN health agency
A 15-year-old girl in Cambodia has died from avian flu but the risk of transmission to the general population is low, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.
In an alert, the UN health agency said that it received notification of the case from the Cambodian authorities on 20 August.
The teenager was one of 10 people confirmed to have contracted the H5N1 influenza virus in Cambodia this year. Since 2003, of 72 cases of H5N1 that have been detected in the country, 43 people have died.
According to the International Health Regulations which govern how all countries should handle outbreaks, human infections of avian flu have the “potential for high public health impact”. But “based on currently available information, WHO assesses the current risk to the general population posed by this virus as low,” it said.
Cambodian health authorities reported that the teenager, from Prey Veng province, was hospitalized on 17 August with symptoms including fever, cough, a sore throat and difficulty breathing, before dying four days later.
Genetic sequencing showed that the virus was similar to those circulating in Cambodia and Southeast Asia since 2013 and more specifically in cases detected in Cambodia since late last year.
Avian influenza was detected for the first time in Cambodia in December 2003, initially affecting wild birds.
UN agencies welcome Ecuador’s efforts to regularize Venezuelan refugees and migrants
To Ecuador, where the Government’s efforts to help Venezuelans and their families stay in the country have been applauded by the UN migration and refugee agencies IOM and UNHCR.
Some 100,000 Venezuelans who live in Ecuador are expected to benefit from the presidential decree which offers a special regularization process for undocumented people from Venezuela.
According to the IOM – the International Organization for Migration and UNHCR – the UN refugee agency – Ecuador hosts the fifth largest number of Venezuelan refugees and migrants in the Americas.
The UN agencies said on Monday that the move will assist thousands who registered previously but who were unable to obtain their visas because they lacked necessary documentation such as passports or valid national IDs, and funds to pay for additional paperwork.
The visa being provided initially lasts two years and can be renewed for another two years. Beneficiaries will join the approximately 97,000 people already regularized in Ecuador.
Daniel Johnson, UN News
Music composed and produced by Joachim Harris. All rights reserved
Source of original article: United Nations (news.un.org). Photo credit: UN. The content of this article does not necessarily reflect the views or opinion of Global Diaspora News (www.globaldiasporanews.com).
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