Hospitals and destroyed clinics. Millions of tons of debris contaminated by toxic substances, unploded ammunition and human remains. Tens of thousands of people suffering from injuries that will require a life of care.
Gaza Residents come back To what remains of their homes, they face new risks in addition to monumental health challenges. Fifteen months of war have killed more than 47,000 people, according to local health officials, moved 90% of the Gazans and reduces many areas in rubber. Clean water is in ruins and sewers, so important to protect public health, are seriously damaged the concerns of the spread of infectious diseases.
Aid groups rush to provide food and supplies in the middle of a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas As they plan the best way to follow.
“You have a population with just all the health that needs imaginable … (which) has not been able to access care … for more than a year,” said Yara Asi, expert in global management Health and visiting FXB Health and Human Rights FXB at Harvard. “What will it look like in the near and long term future?”
Here is an overview of some of the urgent health problems.
Ruined health
Most of the 36 Gaza hospitals have been damaged or partially destroyed by Israeli bombs, with only half partially operational, according to the World Health Organization. Almost two thirds of health clinics are not open. This makes it impossible to treat all those who need long and long -term care – including around 30,000 people who need continuous rehabilitation for “injuries that change their life”, such as amputations.
WHO said that when he is sure, he will associate himself with other organizations to prioritize critical services such as trauma and emergency care, primary health care and mental health support.
This includes the increase in hospital beds’ capacity in the north and southern Gaza, and brings it prefabricated containers to help treat patients in hospitals and damaged clinics, WHO said.
International workers are also necessary to facilitate staff shortages, the organization said.
Asi and other experts have said that most of the hospital equipment had been destroyed and are expensive and difficult to import.
“How will Palestinians import advanced and expensive medical equipment that really makes hospital more than a building?” Asi said. “It will take years.”
Israel says Hamas is responsible for damage to the health system because the group often used hospitals to hide or bring its men together. As part of the current six-week ceasefire, Israel has enabled strong increases in humanitarian supplies. But the parties do not agree on a permanent end of war, and Israel has not publicly exposed a post-war vision which would include plans for reconstruction and cleaning of the territory.
Injuries that change life
The WHO said that a quarter of the 110,000 people estimated injured during the fighting suffered injuries “who have changed their life”, including more than 12,000 people who must be evacuated as soon as possible for specialized care.
Among the injured are thousands of children who have lost members and will need long -term prostheses and care, said Marc Sinclair, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon from Dubai who has volunteered in Gaza for more than a decade .
He said that the charitable organization he had helped to start, Little Wings Foundation, will associate with the Palestinian children’s rescue fund and a German prostheses company that will provide containers that can be transformed into workshops.
They hope to start training doctors and make prostheses in the West Bank and move the operation to Gaza when they are.
“The volume of injured is so huge that it will be a huge task to meet the needs,” said Sinclair. “We are talking about children who have not only unique amputations, but … multiple amputations.”
Asi, from Harvard, said thousands of people have also undergone traumatic injuries, including brain damage, which will require life care. “And then you have these people who have regular health ailments,” she said. “They have not been able to access care or medication in some cases for more than a year.”
Threat of infectious disease
A shortage of drinking water, destroyed sanitation systems, overcrowding and missed infant vaccinations have created ideal circumstances for the spread of infectious diseases, said ASI, also co -director of the Palestine Health and Rights Program ‘man.
She said that children – many of whom suffer from malnutrition and mental trauma – are a particular concern.
Gaza has experienced an epidemic of polio for the first time in decades, so it is clear that children and adults risk other infectious diseases, said Asi.
She said people have described overcrowded living conditions, a lack of hygiene supplies and garbage and wastewater in the streets.
“It is really a catastrophe for the health of all potential facets,” she said, adding that there have been epidemics of respiratory infections in tent and shelters, and many people Live with rashes and unmatched infections.
Dangerous debris
Experts say that the Palestinians who return home to Gaza will be threatened by breathable dust or touch on debris contaminated by toxic chemicals, asbestos and human remains, as well as ammunition that have never exploded. Tens of thousands of people began to return to the north of Gaza on Monday as part of the ceasefire, finding lots of rubble where their houses were once.
It is essential to move quickly to identify and contain environmental risks to “prevent residents from inadvertently returning in contact with harmful pollutants” and to prevent it from spreading, said a spokesperson for the United Nations Program for the environment.
The agency plans to start an assessment in the field within two to three months, according to security allows it.
The first priority should be for specialized teams to search for and generate unplodced ammunition, then test air, water and soil for toxic substances, said Paul Walker, president of the COLITION OF COMPICE ARME Convention and Former staff member of the House Armed Services Committee.
“People are anxious, I know, to rebuild,” he said, but go home right now “could be very dangerous … I think we have to expect people to work through The rubble, there will inevitably be injuries and dead. “”
But it could be difficult to convince residents to delay their return, said Asi. She said that she had seen videos showing caravans of people walking “in some cases, knowing that there is nothing waiting for them but to want to return to the earth to recover the bodies of dear beings or see if Their house has survived or what survives their home. “”
___
The climate and environmental coverage of the Associated Press receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP norms To work with philanthropies, a list of supporters and coverage areas financed at Ap.org.