UAE President allocates $5 million fund for polio vaccination campaign in Gaza

President Sheikh Mohamed has directed allocation of $5 million to support the emergency vaccination campaign against polio in Gaza after the re-emergence of the virus in the territory. The funding is part of the continuous efforts of the UAE to provide relief to the Palestinians, especially children, in response to the grave humanitarian crisis they are experiencing.

The World Health Organisation confirmed on August 23 that at least one child in Gaza has been paralysed by the variant type 2 poliovirus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years.

The campaign, carried out in collaboration with the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and ANROA, will provide two doses of polio vaccine to more than 640,000 children from Gaza under the age of 10, to stop the spread of the virus and prevent the disease outbreak in the region.

The campaign will begin Sunday, September 1, in a staggered schedule, starting in Central Gaza and then moving to South and then North Gaza. Each phase will continue for three days during area-specific humanitarian pauses, to enable children and families to access health facilities and community workers to reach children.

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Some 1.26 million doses of the polio vaccine have been delivered to Gaza in preparation for distribution, with a further 400,000 doses due to arrive soon. More than 2,100 health workers, including mobile teams, will support the delivery of both rounds of the campaign.

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