Health, nutrition campaign to be launched for 44,000 Palestinian children in Gaza
An estimated one in five children under age three in Gaza are unvaccinated or have missed key doses, raising the risk of outbreaks of preventable diseases
NEW YORK, United States (MNTV) – UNICEF, UNRWA, the World Health Organization (WHO), and partners—working with the Palestinian Health Ministry—are launching a large-scale campaign to restore essential health and nutrition services for 44,000 children in Gaza who have been cut off from care by two years of conflict.
According to a joint statement released Wednesday, the integrated “catch-up” campaign will deliver routine childhood immunizations, nutrition screening, and growth monitoring through three phases. The first phase is scheduled for November 9–18.
The campaign will provide multiple doses of pentavalent, polio, rotavirus, and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines, along with two doses of the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine.
An estimated one in five children under age three in Gaza are unvaccinated or have missed key doses, raising the risk of outbreaks of preventable diseases.
“To help address the devastating impacts of the conflict on children’s health and nutrition, UNICEF and partners will also screen these children for malnutrition and ensure those identified with malnutrition receive treatment and ongoing follow-up,” the agencies said. Children with serious complications will be treated at WHO-supported stabilization centers.
“After two years of relentless violence that claimed the lives of more than 20,000 children in the Gaza Strip, we finally have an opportunity to protect those who survived,” said Jonathan Veitch, UNICEF’s special representative in Palestine. “Vaccinating every child, and supporting their health and nutrition, is not just a humanitarian intervention; it is a moral imperative.”
UNICEF has already delivered vaccines, syringes, cold chain equipment, and nutrition supplies to Gaza. Vaccinations will be conducted at 149 health facilities and via 10 mobile units, supported by over 450 trained health workers.
“This immunization campaign is a lifeline, protecting children’s health and restoring hope for the future,” said Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The agencies warned that the campaign’s success hinges on the continuation of the ceasefire to ensure safe access for health workers. With winter approaching, they cautioned that the spread of preventable childhood diseases could worsen conditions for Gaza’s children.
Subsequent phases of the campaign are scheduled for December 2025 and January 2026, covering second and third vaccine doses. Before the conflict, Gaza had maintained a 98% vaccination rate across 54 immunization centers—31 of which are now destroyed or damaged, bringing coverage below 70%.
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