By Ayomide Otitoju
As the world marks World Health Day under the theme “Healthy beginnings, hopeful futures,” the humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate, making the enclave one of the most perilous places for children and pregnant women.
Amid renewed hostilities between March 18 and April 4, more than 500 children and 270 women have reportedly been killed. The ongoing violence, coupled with mass displacement and a crippling lack of medical access, has pushed the region’s fragile health system to the brink of collapse.
Since March 2, no humanitarian aid has entered Gaza, intensifying a worsening hunger and malnutrition crisis. Families are now grappling with severe shortages of clean water, shelter, and medical care, as the risk of disease and death mounts.
An estimated 55,000 women are currently pregnant in Gaza, with approximately one-third classified as high-risk cases. Each day, around 130 babies are born, 27% of them by caesarean section. Complications are increasingly common, with 20% of newborns either pre-term, underweight, or suffering from health issues that require advanced neonatal care—services that are rapidly disappearing.
Medical supplies essential for maternal and child health, including anesthesia, surgical sutures, intravenous fluids, antibiotics, and even blood units for emergency deliveries, are critically low, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Equipment such as portable incubators, neonatal ventilators, ultrasound machines, and oxygen pumps are not being allowed into the territory. Furthermore, 180,000 doses of routine childhood vaccines, enough to immunize 60,000 children under two, remain blocked.
The blockade has also disrupted nutrition services. According to a recent analysis by the Nutrition Cluster, between 10% and 20% of 4,500 surveyed pregnant and breastfeeding women are malnourished. The forced closure of 21 outpatient malnutrition centers, due to security concerns and evacuation orders, has cut off vital treatment for over 350 acutely malnourished children and hindered early detection of new cases.
Despite extreme security challenges, WHO and its partners continue efforts to sustain Gaza’s failing health infrastructure. The focus remains on delivering critical supplies, deploying emergency medical teams, and training health workers to support safe deliveries and care for critically ill children.
The WHO is issuing an urgent appeal for the lifting of the aid blockade, immediate humanitarian access across Gaza, and the resumption of daily medical evacuations. The agency also reiterates calls for the protection of health care facilities, the release of hostages, and a sustainable ceasefire that can open a path to peace.
“Without immediate action,” WHO warned, “the hard-won progress in maternal and child health risks being undone, with devastating consequences for an entire generation.”
