Dangerous skin diseases spreading among Gaza children
Deir El-Balah, Palestinian Territories: More than 150,000 people in the Gaza Strip have contracted skin diseases amid the squalid conditions faced by displaced residents since October 2023. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that Gaza's children are particularly vulnerable to these diseases due to compromised immune systems caused by malnutrition.
Wafaa Elwan’s five-year-old son, living in a Gaza tent city, suffers from severe itching due to skin infections. "My son can’t sleep through the night because he can’t stop scratching his body," Elwan shared, describing the white and red blotches covering his feet, legs, and torso.
Skin infections such as scabies, chickenpox, lice, impetigo, and other debilitating rashes are rampant among Gazans. The WHO has documented 96,417 cases of scabies and lice, 9,274 cases of chickenpox, 60,130 cases of skin rashes, and 10,038 cases of impetigo since October 2023.
Elwan's family, like many others, lives on a sandy patch near the sea close to Deir al-Balah. "We sleep on the ground, on sand where worms come out underneath us," she said. Limited access to hygiene and sanitary products exacerbates the situation. Parents previously encouraged their children to wash in the Mediterranean, but pollution from the war has made the sea hazardous.
Pharmacist Sami Hamid, who runs a makeshift clinic in Deir al-Balah, noted the prevalence of scabies and chickenpox. "Children’s skin suffers from the hot weather and the lack of clean water," Hamid explained. He provided calamine lotion to soothe the itching of affected children.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warns that Gaza’s children are especially susceptible to skin conditions due to malnutrition. Mohammed Abu Mughaiseeb, MSF's medical coordinator in Gaza, highlighted the additional risk posed by hot weather and poor hygiene.
Hamid reported that 24 out of 150 students in a makeshift school had scabies, with infections spreading among them. WHO warned of other diseases rampaging through displacement camps due to poor hygiene. Primitive toilets draining into channels among tents contribute to the spread of epidemics, with 485,000 cases of diarrhoea reported.
The United Nations reports that 1.9 million people in Gaza, out of a population of 2.4 million, are now displaced. Israel’s aggression has resulted in at least 37,925 Palestinian deaths, primarily civilians, according to official figures.
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UP: Misled by GPS navigation, car falls into river from partially constructed bridge, 3 dead
Bareilly (UP), Nov 24: Three people died when their car fell into the Ramganga river from a partially constructed bridge here on Sunday, police said, adding that they suspect the driver was misled by its navigation system into taking the unsafe route.
The accident occurred around 10 am on the Khalpur-Dataganj road when the victims were travelling from Bareilly to Dataganj in the Badaun district, they said.
"Earlier this year, floods had caused the front portion of the bridge to collapse into the river, but this change had not been updated in the system," Circle Officer Ashutosh Shivam said.
The driver was using a navigation system and did not realise that the bridge was unsafe, driving the car off the damaged section, the police said.
There were no safety barriers or warning signs on the approach to the damaged bridge, leading to the fatal accident, Shivam said.
Upon receiving information, police teams from Faridpur, Bareilly and Dataganj police station rushed to the spot. They recovered the vehicle and the bodies from the river, Shivam added.
The circle officer said that bodies had been sent for post-mortem. Further investigation into the matter is underway.
— Bareilly Police (@bareillypolice) November 24, 2024
