With the recent mass displacements across southern Gaza, the spread of diseases has intensified according to reports from UN agencies.
Shelters are overcrowded, personal hygiene is difficult, medicines are in short supply and the healthcare system is overwhelmed.
The World Health Organisation says it remains "very concerned about the increasing threat of infectious diseases" and that in the three months until mid-December, it registered:
- some 180,000 cases of upper respiratory infections
- 136,400 cases of diarrhoea (half of these among children under five years old)
- 55,400 cases of lice and scabies
- 5,330 cases of chickenpox
- 42,700 cases of skin rash (including 4,722 cases of impetigo)
- 4,683 cases of Acute Jaundice Syndrome; and 126 cases of meningitis.
Yesterday, in coordination with Israel, Unicef says it delivered 600,000 vaccines to Gaza.
They will be used for routine immunisations as most children have not received scheduled vaccinations during the war.
