Phото: who.int
It is not true that the World Health Organization is killing children in Gaza. On the contrary, WHO representatives are constantly delivering medical and non-medical aid to Gaza, where hospitals have been demolished and conditions for medical treatment are dreadful. WHO collects donations for Gaza and relentlessly calls for a ceasefire in the region. WHO has representatives on the field in Gaza who regularly inform the world about the horrors of the war there and the resulting healthcare conditions. Additionally, it is untrue that WHO has only just realized that it could save children’s lives with a whooping cough vaccine. WHO consistently vouches for vaccination, while the DTaP vaccine that inoculates one against whooping cough is part of the national vaccination schedule of North Macedonia, writes Truthmeter.mk.
Under the content-sharing agreement between Truthmeter.mk and Meta.mk, we republish the text below:
We are fact-checking a post on Facebook (screenshot here) which claims the following:
It just occurred to the Satanists in WHO that they can save children with coughing needles, while at the same time they kill children in Gaza. Think with those empty heads of yours!
Contrary to the claim in the post we are fact-checking, the World Health Organization does not kill children in Gaza. Since 7 October 2023, the escalating crisis in Gaza has caused large numbers of civilian deaths and injuries. The airstrikes and lack of medical supplies, food, water, and fuel in Gaza have virtually depleted an already under-resourced health system. Hospitals have been working above and beyond their usual capacity due to rising numbers of patients and displaced civilians seeking shelter in hospitals. The provision of essential health services, from gynecological exams and postnatal care to treatment for chronic conditions, has been severely compromised.
The World Health Organization is working with partners to address the most urgent health needs, including through the provision of life-saving medical supplies. WHO urges all parties to protect health and ensure safe access to health care for their populations, states WHO’s website.
WHO teams and their partners have undertaken high-risk missions to deliver medicinal supplies to hospitals in northern and southern Gaza, which are overcrowded, overflowing with patients, and the working conditions are more than difficult.
Today I repeat my call on the international community to take urgent steps to alleviate the grave peril facing the population of Gaza and jeopardizing the ability of humanitarian workers to help with terrible injuries, acute hunger, and severe risk of disease, said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General on 27 December 2023.
This statement came amidst a high-risk mission by the WHO a day prior. It involved delivering medical supplies to two hospitals, Al-Shifa and Al-Amal. Both hospitals also served as shelters for displaced people seeking safety, even though the safety they could provide is increasingly minimal. 50,000 people were sheltering in Al-Shifa, while 14,000 were in Al-Amal.
WHO delivered fuel to Al-Shifa to keep essential health services running. Alongside UNICEF, WHO also delivered medical supplies and food to the hospital. Medical supplies were also delivered to the main pharmacy in Gaza, which will act as a medical supply hub, delivering medicine to other hospitals, through the support of WHO and their partners.
Meanwhile, at Al-Amal Hospital, airstrikes disabled the hospital’s radio tower, which hindered the operations of the ambulance dispatch system for the entire area, affecting more than 1.5 million people. Of the nine ambulances the hospital once had, only five remained in a functional state.
WHO staff reported finding it impossible to walk inside the hospital without stepping over patients. There are only few functioning toilets available in the hospital, according to WHO.
WHO also stated that their representatives witnessed tens of thousands of people fleeing heavy strikes on foot, riding on donkeys, or in cars.
WHO is extremely concerned this displacement of people will further strain health facilities in the South, which are already struggling to meet the population’s immense needs. This forced mass movement of people will also lead to more overcrowding, increased risk of infectious disease and make it even harder to deliver humanitarian aid, said Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, a WHO representative in Gaza.
WHO also stated that hunger is an immense issue in Gaza.
The safety of our staff and continuity of operations depends on more food arriving in all of Gaza, immediately. My own colleagues are also being directly and personally affected by the conflict, just like virtually everyone in Gaza. I continue to receive heartbreaking news of the loss of our Gaza staffer’s family members, stated Dr. Tedros.
He called for a ceasefire to spare civilians from further violence and for the long road towards reconstruction and peace to begin.
Despite what the statement we are fact-checking claims, WHO has no role in initiating or negatively affecting the conflict in Gaza. WHO has helped with delivering medical aid and fuel, sending over staff to Gaza and has consistently called for a ceasefire in the region. WHO also regularly informs the world about the frightening and devastating ramifications of the conflict for Gaza’s civilians.
The WHO Operational Response Plan for occupied Palestinian Territory can be found on the following link. WHO’s call for donations can be accessed here.
Additionally, WHO has always encouraged regular vaccination of children as vaccination is one of medicine’s greatest achievements. The DTaP vaccine is part of the regular vaccination schedule of North Macedonia. However, since these calls for inoculation were not fully heeded, there are doses of DTaP vaccines in North Macedonia that remained unused, which creates the risk of an epidemic.
Due to all the above-stated facts, we assess the statement that WHO is killing children in Gaza as untrue. It is also untrue that it just occurred to WHO that children need to be vaccinated against whooping cough. WHO encourages vaccination and appeals for it constantly.
