Gaza (Union)
Action Against Hunger said: The Gaza Strip is vulnerable to an unprecedented outbreak of disease this summer due to piles of waste that are rotting due to high temperatures, which increases the tragedy of a population already suffering from food shortages.
Vienna Diamanti, project coordinator for emergencies at the non-governmental organization, stated that waste management is one of the organization’s main concerns because it cannot be removed from the Strip while its residents cannot access waste dumps.
She said: “This amount of solid waste throughout the sector causes many problems related to hygiene.”
She added: “We fear the emergence of diseases that have not appeared before in the Gaza Strip and that they will affect the entire population, especially in the summer with high temperatures.”
Temperatures rose to 38 degrees Celsius in a heat wave that swept Gaza last summer, causing power outages for 12 hours a day. Action Against Hunger also helps distribute drinking water to charitable kitchens and individuals, and distributes nutritional supplements to children and those in vulnerable situations in the sector.
Diamanti said: The rate of malnutrition in Gaza was only 0.8% before the war, but the situation has changed radically. She added that despite the lack of resources to collect the necessary data to determine whether there is a famine, people are already dying from diseases related to malnutrition.
She added: “We had to intervene to prevent and treat malnutrition, focusing primarily on children under the age of five and pregnant and breastfeeding women.”
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