Building on the optimism of Gaza’s polio vaccination campaign: Prefabricated pharma factories to improve children’s health in conflict zones
The first day of September 2024 marked the first day of a polio vaccination campaign in Gaza.
Conducted jointly by the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MOH), the World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), this campaign was organised in response to the threat of the poliovirus – a threat that re-emerged after 25 years when a 10-month-old boy in the Gaza Strip was partially paralysed by the disease.
The challenges to polio vaccine delivery in Gaza
The UN-led campaign has overcome significant challenges to see some initial success. Despite limited humanitarian pauses to set up vaccination camps and deliver the doses, the inability to reach parts of the population, and the threat of injury and even death, over half a million children have been inoculated with the first oral dose of the two-dose vaccination regime.
Round two of the campaign may face even greater challenges – given the mass displacement of individuals in the Strip, especially when movement happens across different governance zones, tracking children for their second dose may be quite difficult.
Rolling out this campaign within the current crisis in the region is nothing short of a miracle, especially considering the extensive damage to regional infrastructure. According to the Chief of Communications for UNICEF Palestine, 75% of the Gaza Strip’s cold chain capacity has been destroyed or severely damaged in the strikes. UNICEF made this campaign possible by bringing 1.6 million nOPV2 vaccines into the Strip along with the cold-chain equipment needed to preserve the vaccines and the ice packs and boxes that are indispensable in the high temperatures of the region.
The problem extends beyond polio
The return of the poliovirus in the Gaza Strip is truly disheartening, especially given the stupendous global progress in fighting the potentially fatal virus over the past couple of decades. Nevertheless, polio is far from the only threat facing this conflict-ridden area.
Reports from UNICEF Palestine reveal the dire, unhygienic and unsafe conditions in which the displaced Palestinians in Gaza currently live. A lack of food – so extreme that parts of Gaza have been on the verge of famine at some points – has weakened people’s immunity. As many as 800 people are forced to share a single toilet. Hundreds of tonnes of solid waste are piling up in the open. People may have the chance to take only one shower in a week.
Together, these living conditions have created an environment conducive to the emergence and rapid spread of diseases in a region where people are already battling for their lives. In a region where the health system has largely collapsed, with most hospitals non-operational due to the conflict. In a region where adults and children alike find their right to life, liberty and health threatened.
Building capacity to tackle diseases in humanitarian crises
For the polio vaccination campaign in Gaza to be considered a success, health workers will have to inoculate at least 90% of Gazan children. The success of this programme will prevent the spread of polio not only within Gaza but also beyond its borders.
There is also optimism that a successful campaign against the polio virus will be the first step towards better overall public health, especially for children, in Gaza. The Director of Polio Eradication for the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region hopes that international public health agencies will find ways to restore and increase the number of immunization sites here so that all vaccines, not just for polio, can be administered to children through routine programmes.
A successful polio vaccination campaign in Gaza can be a promising sign for not only Palestinian children but also children in other regions where conflict, displacement, and humanitarian and environmental crises have threatened healthcare delivery.
Globally, conflicts continue to impact public health in multiple ways. In addition to creating environments conducive to the spread of disease, they damage or destroy healthcare infrastructure, disrupt healthcare delivery, and impede the supply of essential health products. On-ground challenges adversely impact medical research, disease surveillance, and pharmaceutical manufacturing.
In environments such as these, where already limited resources are redirected to meet urgent humanitarian needs, long-term investments in health infrastructure often get overlooked. However, developing resilient and adaptable infrastructure that helps improve public health can be a beacon of hope in such regions.
A strong health sector characterised by a biopharma manufacturing industry which stands resolute in the face of conflict? Now that can steer the fate of a population in a safer, healthier direction. This vision can be made a reality with the help of modular construction technology.
Self-contained podules™ like the ones we make at PodTech™ are uniquely suited to help nations in crisis. While they have been and continue to be deployed across the world for diverse purposes (including producing Covid-19 vaccines when the world saw an unprecedented demand for them), in regions of conflict, they can be used to rapidly manufacture required health products during health and other crises.
While the current focus in Gaza is to deliver essential vaccines for children, podules™ can also play an important role in producing small molecules, APIs, biopharmaceuticals, and cell and gene therapies when needed. When epidemics or pandemics throw countries or regions into emergency situations, podules™ can also be deployed for rapid response.
At the end of the day, no one should have to suffer from health issues for which we have a cure. Regardless of where people are born and the resources that they have, the right to health should be inviolable. That is why PodTech™’s podules™ need to reach every corner of the world – to give adults and children alike the chance at healthier lives, no matter the state of climate, politics or the economy around them.