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It's estimated that at least 50,000 babies
have been born in Gaza over the last 10 months. Born into
chaos, violence, displacement and near-famine conditions. No
child deserves this.
Women are giving birth in traumatic, unhygienic and
undignified conditions without access to basic services. Many
mothers and babies have not survived, and those who have
managed to deliver their babies safely remain in constant
danger.
Rolling power blackouts pose extreme risks to critically ill
infants, especially those few who have the chance to be
treated in incubators. Mothers and their children are sent
back to crowded camps with little access to clean water,
putting babies at increased risk of infection and disease.
And with 96% of the population in Gaza facing severe food
insecurity, many mothers don’t receive the food or water they
need to breastfeed their babies.
To learn more
about our vital work to support maternal and infant health in
Gaza, please listen to this voice memo from Sharifa, a
midwife at Save the Children’s Emergency Health Unit (EHU) in
Deir Al-Balah.*
Her firsthand account is difficult to listen to, but we
believe it’s important that our supporters, and the world at
large, understand what’s going on in the country. With so
many lives in imminent danger, this is why an immediate
ceasefire, the release of all hostages and a safe pathway for
the increased delivery of humanitarian aid are so important.
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After shifting our base of operations from
Rafah in May, Save the Children staff are supporting pregnant
women, newborns and families at our primary health care
center in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza. However, this week,
relocations orders went out for Deir Al-Balah, so Save the
Children staff and many of the humanitarian actors are
currently fleeing that area.
Still, with your generous support, we’re providing health and
nutrition services, water, sanitation and hygiene support and
child protection services. In June, we reached 53,849
people. We are ready to continue to scale up our work as soon
as it is safe to do so.
But to truly protect children’s lives, rights and futures, we
continue to call for an immediate and definitive ceasefire,
the release of all hostages and a safe pathway for the
increased delivery of humanitarian aid.
Thank you for your partnership in this critical work, for
taking the time to learn more about this crisis today and for
all you do to support children around the world. We encourage
you to share this email and voice memo with anyone you know
who is concerned about the world’s children in this urgent
moment, and we will continue to keep you informed.
Save the Children
*Midwife
Sharifa Khan was in Gaza with the EHU in April and May and
recorded these voice notes in June.
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©
2024 Save the Children Federation, Inc.
501 Kings Highway East, Suite 400 Fairfield, CT 06825
1-800-728-3843
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