A child receives a vaccination for polio in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. AFP

The UAE's support has accelerated the vaccination of over 187,000 children in Gaza since the launch of the polio campaign.

This effort, in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF, and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), has been in response to the emergency situation following the first case of type 2 polio recorded in the Gaza Strip in 25 years.

President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan had directed the provision of $5 million to support the emergency polio vaccination campaign in Gaza after the first case of the virus was detected in the Strip.

This initiative is part of the ongoing efforts by the UAE to provide relief to the Palestinian people amid the critical conditions they are facing.

The campaign is racing against time to achieve its ultimate goal of vaccinating 640,000 children, especially in light of the widespread forced displacement, severe overcrowding, and the extensive damage to the health system and water and sanitation infrastructure in many areas of the Gaza Strip.

With the participation of 2,100 medical staff and mobile health teams, around 1.26 million doses of the polio vaccine that have already reached Gaza will be distributed in phases, with each phase lasting three days during limited humanitarian ceasefire periods for each area. An additional 400,000 doses of the vaccine are expected to arrive in the sector within days.

The UAE's unwavering support for the international vaccination campaign underscores its enduring commitment to humanitarian endeavours, aligned with the directives of His Highness the President, to alleviate the suffering of the Gaza people, particularly in the realms of health and medicine.

This commitment is exemplified by initiatives such as treating 1,000 wounded children from Gaza and 1,000 cancer patients from the Gaza Strip, accompanied by their caregivers, at the Emirates Humanitarian City, as well as the Emirati Integrated Field in  Gaz , the UAE Floating Hospital in Al-Arish, Egypt, and the indispensable medical supplies comprising the diverse aid shipments that the UAE has generously been extending to Gaza to date, totalling 40,000 tonnes.

Moreover, this support complements the UAE's contribution to the  Operation Chivalrous Knight 3 which has enabled the provision of a staggering 130 million gallons of clean water to the people of the Gaza Strip to date, through six desalination stations strategically located in the Egyptian city of Rafah, boasting a collective capacity of 1.6 million gallons per day.

WAM