At a glance: Occupied Palestinian Territory

Real lives

Health workers tackle polio under difficult circumstances

© UNICEF East Jerusalem / Sabella

A Bedouin child in Bethlehem district waits to be vaccinated after a health team arrives at his village for the first time in over three months. Travel restrictions have impacted immunization work in all districts.

MARAH RABAH, WEST BANK

The young sheik picks up the microphone that he normally uses five times a day to call people to prayer in the small village of Marah Rabah in the district of Bethlehem. Today, however, there is an additional message. The sheik tells parents that a team of health workers has just arrived and that children under the age of five should be brought to the mosque to be immunized.

Within minutes, the two small rooms annexed to the mosque begin to fill up. Mothers give the health workers a warm welcome because it is the first time the health team has been able to reach Marah Rabah in more than three months.

"It was if they were waiting for this service," says UNICEF project officer for the West Bank and Gaza area Dr. Nadim Al-Adili. "They were very responsive."

Getting to Marah Rabah has been a challenge for staff from the district health office. Immunization activities in all districts in West Bank and Gaza have been impacted by the conflict, road closures, curfews and restrictions that began more than a year ago.

In this respect, West Bank and Gaza are like the more than 50 areas of conflict areas in the world where routine immunization and other health services have been badly affected. In almost all of these areas, UNICEF has supported special vaccination campaigns for children affected by conflict while taking steps to shore up routine health services.

Today, even the road to the village was blocked, forcing the team to travel an extra hour. Normally health workers travel on their own, but because of the difficult logistics, the team is accompanied by a UNICEF staff member and car, enabling them to negotiate the main roads and checkpoints.

For five days in October 2001, UNICEF provided transport and logistical support to health workers in Bethlehem district. The goal was to reach some 5,500 children in 11 remote villages, with a special focus on reaching Bedouin children. The children received oral polio vaccine as well as the other vaccines in the regular childhood immunization series to protect them against tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, measles, mumps and rubella. The health workers will also immunize pregnant women against neonatal tetanus.

In the coming weeks, UNICEF will also support the Ministry of Health in reaching a much larger number - some 200,000 children - with a polio 'door-to-door' campaign, designed to ensure that any child who was missed earlier is vaccinated. The campaign will also aim to immunize 100,000 first grade students against measles, diphtheria and tetanus.

"UNICEF's support is critical if we want to ensure children are fully immunized," says Pierre Poupard, UNICEF Special Representative for West Bank and Gaza. "The past few months have been difficult for parents and health workers. Many parents have to walk long distances to catch taxis and buses in order to get to larger centres because the routine mobile clinics cannot get to them."

The mobile team in Marah Rabah also serviced the nearby village of Marah Moalla. It was a productive day despite the obstacles, and 236 children and five pregnant women were immunized.