90% of pregnant, breastfeeding women in Gaza are malnourished

“The Gaza Strip continues to be one of the most dangerous places to be a child and where pregnancy is clouded by fear due to ongoing violence, displacement and lack of medical access,” the WHO warned in a press statement on the occasion of World Health Day yesterday.

Speaking to Kuwait’s official news agency (KUNA), WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris described the health of pregnant women in Gaza as “beyond anything a human can imagine”.

“No food or medical aid is currently reaching Gaza. Mothers and children are already suffering, and the situation is getting worse by the day,” she added.

“When a pregnant woman is suffering from acute malnutrition, the fetus often fails to develop properly,” she said. This, she continued, “can lead to intrauterine growth restrictions increasing the risk of miscarriage, premature birth of babies born full term but severely underweight due to prolonged hunger.”

According to the WHO, one in four pregnant women in Gaza is experiencing severe complications, while around 25 per cent suffer from acute anemia and 23 per cent face the threat of preterm labour.

Due to the shortage of food, Harris said, 99 per cent of breastfeeding women struggle to produce milk, while half a million women and girls of reproductive age lack access to basic prenatal and postnatal care.

She warned that the US’s decision to cut funding to aid projects means the WHO’s ability to respond to the crisis is in doubt.

“If health programmes are cut,” she explained, “one million people in Gaza and the West Bank could be left without access to critical services placing them at risk within an already collapsing health system.”