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Chickenpox Spreads Through Gaza Camps Amid Overcrowding and Poor Hygiene
🇰🇷 South Korea /Health & Science

Chickenpox Spreads Through Gaza Camps Amid Overcrowding and Poor Hygiene

From Chosun Ilbo · () Korean

Translated from Korean, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News From a news agency Context piece
  • Chickenpox is spreading rapidly in overcrowded Palestinian displacement camps in Gaza due to poor hygiene and lack of isolation facilities.
  • Over 9,300 suspected cases have been recorded, primarily in Khan Yunis, where families live in extremely cramped tents.
  • Families struggle with basic necessities like clean water and soap, making it nearly impossible to prevent the highly contagious disease's spread.

Eight-year-old Ruba Saadeh is confined to a tent in southern Gaza, her skin covered in inflamed blisters as chickenpox sweeps through overcrowded camps. Doctors and displaced families report a surge in the highly contagious disease, fueled by war-driven displacement that has forced hundreds of thousands into cramped tents lacking basic hygiene facilities.

The doctor told us she needs daily cleaning and should be isolated for 20 days. But how can we isolate her? We all live in one tent.

— AlaaDescribing the impossibility of isolating her sister due to extreme overcrowding.

"The doctor told us she needs daily cleaning and should be isolated for 20 days," Ruba's sister, Alaa, told AFP. "But how can we isolate her? We all live in one tent." UNICEF noted over 9,300 suspected chickenpox cases in Gaza by early July, concentrated in Khan Yunis, the most densely populated area where families live in close proximity.

That's the most densely-populated area in the Gaza Strip... families are sheltering almost on top of each other.

— Louise WateridgeExplaining the conditions contributing to the chickenpox outbreak.

Raed Abdel Karim Abu Sariya, a dermatologist with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, confirmed that the lack of space for isolation is accelerating the spread. "Chickenpox patients must be isolated because the disease spreads through respiratory infection," he explained. "But in Gaza's camps, separating the sick from the healthy is virtually impossible. Imagine 10, 15 or even 20 people living in a small tent. Where can they isolate a patient?"

Chickenpox patients must be isolated because the disease spreads through respiratory infection. But in Gaza's camps, separating the sick from the healthy is virtually impossible.

— Raed Abdel Karim Abu SariyaDetailing the challenges of disease control in displacement camps.

Stagnant water, garbage, and children walking barefoot highlight the unsanitary conditions. Alaa attributes the outbreak to overcrowding and infrequent access to clean water. "We only get water once a week, and it's salty and not clean," she said, adding that the family also struggles to afford cleaning products. Unlike in wealthier nations where chickenpox is a manageable childhood illness, the insalubrious conditions in Gaza's camps make prevention and symptom management extremely difficult. "We have been living through three years of war. My father is unemployed and we cannot afford to buy cleaning materials," Alaa lamented.

Imagine 10, 15 or even 20 people living in a small tent. Where can they isolate a patient?

— Raed Abdel Karim Abu SariyaIllustrating the severe overcrowding in Gaza's camps.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Chosun Ilbo in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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