GENEVA

The UN agencies, including UNICEF, UNRWA, World Health Organization (WHO), and partners, in collaboration with the Palestinian Health Ministry, are launching an integrated catch-up campaign for routine immunization, nutrition, and growth monitoring in Gaza to reach 44,000 children cut off from essential life-saving services by two years of conflict.

According to a joint statement released on Wednesday, the campaign will be implemented in three rounds to reach children with three doses of pentavalent, polio, rotavirus, and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines and two doses of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine.

The first round of the campaign will take place from Nov. 9 to Nov. 18.

An estimated "1 in 5 children under three years of age are either zero-dose or have missed vaccinations because of the conflict," increasing the risk of disease outbreaks. The catch-up campaign aims, the statement said, to provide these children with routine childhood vaccines that protect against measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, tuberculosis, polio, rotavirus, and pneumonia.

"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. Children with complications due to moderate and severe acute malnutrition will be treated at WHO-supported inpatient stabilization centers," it said.

"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," Jonathan Veitch, UNICEF special representative in Palestine, said. "Vaccinating every child, and supporting their health and nutrition, is not just a humanitarian intervention; it is a moral imperative."

UNICEF has delivered all vaccines, syringes, cold chain equipment and nutrition supplies to Gaza, with vaccinations set to take place at 149 health facilities and 10 mobile vehicles, according to the statement. More than 450 health workers and support staff have been trained.

"This immunization campaign is a lifeline, protecting children’s health and restoring hope for the future," Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, said for his part.

The agencies stressed that the campaign's success depends on the full respect of the ceasefire to allow safe access to vaccination and nutrition services. The onset of harsh winter conditions makes this campaign even more urgent, as deadly but preventable childhood diseases spread across the Gaza Strip, they warned.

Phases two and three of the campaign, which aim to provide the children with second and third doses of the vaccines, are planned for December 2025 and January 2026, respectively.

Before the conflict, Gaza maintained 54 immunization facilities and ranked "among the top" globally with an overall 98% vaccination coverage rate for children. Today, the statement said, 31 facilities are no longer operational after being damaged or destroyed in indiscriminate attacks, while the routine vaccination coverage rate has dropped below 70%.