Gaza races to disinfect refugee shelters as disease starts to spread
Verity Bowman Tue, November 21, 2023 at 11:13 AM CST The Telegraph
Refugee shelters in southern Gaza are being disinfected with chemical agents in a bid to prevent a catastrophic outbreak of disease.
Cases of severe diarrhoea are already sweeping through the population and experts fear typhoid and cholera outbreaks could quickly follow.
Israeli bombing has destroyed much of Gaza’s sanitation infrastructure, leaving sewage running through the streets, while shortages of clean water and antibiotics threaten to tip the precarious situation into a health crisis.
“If you don’t get clean water soon, mortality will be very high,” said Professor Francois Balloux, Chair in Computational Biology Systems at UCL.
“It is highly likely that there are cases of typhoid we just don’t know about yet. Although there are no official reports of cholera yet, that does not mean that it isn’t spreading,” he added.
At least 830,000 Gazans now reside in overcrowded shelters, while 70 per cent of people in the enclave’s south have no access to clean water, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Overcrowding encourages the spread of disease, while a lack of sanitary water increases the risk of waterborne infections, like diarrhoea, cholera and typhoid – all of which can be deadly without adequate medical care.
Workers from the NGO Anera are toiling to sanitise 55 shelters in southern Gaza with chemical agents in a bid to kill lingering infections.
“Cleaners are working around the clock in 24-hour shifts,” said Sean Carroll, Anera’s president and CEO. “The cleaning team systematically moves from one shelter to another, ten per day.”
However, disinfectant supplies are in short supply due to blockages on the border with Egypt and a lack of fuel.
“There were many times that our staff wondered if we could keep delivering because of it,” said Mr Carroll.
Ahmad Najjar, Anera’s Medical Donations Programme Officer in Gaza, told the Telegraph that dermatological diseases resulting from overcrowding are spreading like wildfire.
“It is related directly to the absence of hygienic tools, mainly water and the very limited numbers of bathrooms,” he told the Telegraph.
“I noticed many water-borne diseases like parasitic infections, some kidney stones, and inflammation due to drinking salty water due to the huge absence of drinking water.”
Mr Najjar added that he expects to see cholera cases in the near future because of unclean water and untreated sewage.
He said that many pregnant women have lost their babies due to the dire conditions.
“I have seen malnutrition for pregnant women, mothers, and their babies due to limited access to all food items,” he said.
The situation is likely to spiral as winter looms, Mr Najjir explained, with humanitarian workers bracing for a spike in respiratory infections as people shelter in canvas tents inadequate for colder conditions.
Since November 10, 10,224 people have been diagnosed with an acute respiratory infection, while scabies and lice have reportedly affected 10,952 individuals, according to figures from Airfinity, a global health monitorer.
A further 8,202 people have been diagnosed with diarrhoea, with 51 per cent of these under the age of five.
“Severe diarrhoea, especially without access to antibiotics, is often lethal for young children,” said Professor Balloux, who was a member at the MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling within the Department of Infectious disease epidemiology at Imperial College London.
“What is likely to occur very soon is outbreaks of typhoid or cholera. That could affect the whole population. If the situation does not improve soon, there will be a cycle of infections.”
Municipal officials in Gaza say sewage is overflowing into the streets because the lack of electricity has caused a “complete halt to sewage pumps”.
Ahmad al Soufi, president of Rafah municipality, said it is “creating a health and environmental abomination”.
“We are now witnessing a deterioration in the environmental situation resulting from the accumulation of waste in the streets, alleys and all neighbourhoods and the spread of diseases and epidemics of all kinds.”
Experts say that these are the first warning signs of a health catastrophe as the ongoing conflict will exacerbate the situation further, spreading outbreaks to new territories and causing an even higher burden on the population.
Routine surveillance systems are not currently functioning, which has hampered effective detection and the ability to respond to threats to public health, a WHO spokesperson said.
Healthcare capacity is continuing to decline as 69 per cent and 65 per cent of hospitals and primary health care facilities respectively are not functioning.
The World Food Programme has reported an increase in cases of dehydration and malnutrition and warned about the threat of starvation due to the collapsed food supply chain and insufficient aid delivery.
Shelters are overcrowded as Gazans flee from the north, with people left to sleep outside on the ground with no blankets.
“Our staff in Gaza have all been displaced themselves and they are living in crowded shelters – mostly in the south, supposedly the ‘safe’ zone – with poor access to water, food and power,” said Mr Carroll.
“They are exhausted and are quite literally putting their lives at risk going out to deliver relief. No place is safe in Gaza.”
But how can (7) they call on him (Jesus Christ) to save (7) them unless they believe in Him (Jesus Christ)? (7) And how can they believe in Him (7) (Jesus Christ) if they have never heard about (7) Him (Jesus Christ)? And how can they hear (7) about Him (Jesus Christ) unless someone tells them?” Romans 10:14 (777777)
In His Service,
Night Watchman
Paul Rolland
Night Watchman Ministries
Make Your (7) Decision for Christ NOW!!!!!!! Time is Up!!!!!!!
Jesus Christ’s Offer of Salvation:
The ABCs (7) of Salvation through Jesus Christ (the Lamb)
A. (7) Admit/Acknowledge/Accept that you are sinner. Ask (7) God’s forgiveness and repent of your sins.
. . . “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23).
. . . “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10).
. . . “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8).
B. Believe Jesus is Lord. Believe that (7) Jesus Christ is who He claimed to (7) be; that He was both fully God (7) and fully man and that we are (7) saved through His death, burial, and resurrection. (7) Put your trust in Him as your (7) only hope of salvation. Become a son (7) or daughter of God by receiving Christ. (7777777) 7×7
. . . “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3:15-17). For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13).
C. Call upon His name, Confess (7) with your heart and with your lips (7) that Jesus is your Lord and Savior.
. . . “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10).
. . . “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (John 1:8-10).
. . . “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (John 2:2).
. . . “In this was manifested the love of god toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.” (1 John 4:9, 14-15).
. . . “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:8-10).
. . . “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23).
. . . “Jesus saith unto them, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6).
. . . “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.” (Romans 1:16).
. . . “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts: 4:12).
. . . “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth for there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:4-6).
. . . “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:9).
. . . “But as many as received him, to them gave the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” (John 1:12).
True Church / Bride of Christ Spared from God’s Wrath:
Romans 5:8-10. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”
Romans 12:19. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 1:10. And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
1 Thessalonians 5:9. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Romans 8:35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Jeremiah 30:7. Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.
Revelation 3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.