Discovery of poliovirus in Gaza ‘incredibly alarming’, Unicef executive director says

The “incredibly alarming” discovery of the poliovirus in Gaza only adds to the besieged territory’s status as one of “the most dangerous places to be a child right now”, the head of the UN children’s agency has warned.

The executive director of Unicef, Catherine Russell, said during a visit to Australia that Gaza was increasingly lawless.

As the Israeli military offensive continued, humanitarian workers were “risking their lives every day” to help Palestinian civilians.

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In her only Australian interview, Russell raised alarm about the impact of conflicts in Sudan and Ukraine. She also said youth in low-lying Pacific island countries were “impatient with the world” for failing to act on the climate crisis.

After Unicef helped carry out tests of sewage samples from Gaza that showed the presence of poliovirus , Russell said: “It’s incredibly alarming.”

Russell said the world was “getting so close, we believe, to getting rid of polio once and for all”, so any potential emergence of the poliovirus requires “close attention”.

She raised concerns about the spread of other infectious diseases such as cholera in Gaza.

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“When children are already hungry and weak, their bodies are much more vulnerable and susceptible to getting these diseases.”

Addressing the overall situation in Gaza, Russell said the territory had “some competition on this front but it’s certainly one of the most, if not the most dangerous place to be a child right now”.

She said these dangers were not just because of the direct impact of the conflict but also because health centres had “been destroyed or radically compromised” and the population had been “displaced multiple times”.

“People are moving with nothing and moving to places where there is nothing.”

Russell, who met the Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, on Monday, said it was an “incredibly dangerous” operating environment for Unicef and other humanitarian organisations.

“It’s not totally lawless, but there’s an element of lawlessness to it,” she said.

Russell called for an end to the conflict and the release of hostages held by Hamas.

The chief prosecutor of the international criminal court has accused Israeli leaders of using the “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare”, a claim the Israeli government has rejected.

Israel has defended its security screening procedures and has repeatedly accused UN agencies of a lack of coordination in delivering aid in Gaza.

Russell said that was an “unfair characterisation”. She said there were “many challenges” to effective aid distribution, including damage to roads and a breakdown in security.

“Yes, it is hard to get aid around for sure. But that’s not for a lack of trying or a lack of competence on our part.”

Russell also reflected on her visit to Sudan last month, saying the country was facing “the largest child displacement crisis in the world”.

She said the crisis in Sudan was “something that the world needs to pay attention to, and it is not getting nearly the attention that it needs”.

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Nearly four million children under the age of five years are projected to be malnourished. This figure includes 730,000 who are projected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition, according to data provided by Unicef.

“Honestly, the scale of what’s happening [in Sudan] is shocking,” Russell said.

With next month marking the third anniversary of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, Russell said the country’s humanitarian needs were “extraordinary”.

At the same time, the authorities in Afghanistan were “really trying to constrain the involvement of women and girls in society”.

Russell said it was important for Australia and other western donor countries to continue to provide humanitarian support in Afghanistan.

“We are the lifeline there – and we don’t want to abandon women and girls. We hear that all the time: ‘Don’t leave us behind, don’t leave,’” Russell said.

“We do need to continue to talk about it and to say it’s not OK. Women and girls are human beings, they have rights just like everybody else, and they are entitled to have those rights recognised.”

Russell arrived in Australia after visiting Vanuatu and Fiji to hear about the impact of the climate crisis from children and young people.

“The truth is that children are way ahead of us on this,” she said.

“They see it in their communities and they’re impatient with the world not doing something about climate.

“I mean, it’s hard not to say that these children are being left behind and being failed – and I think that’s true all around the world.”