As Israel’s blockade of Gaza strip enters its 10th year, a United Nations aid agency revealed that neonatal mortality rate in Gaza has risen from 1.2% in 2008 to 2.03% in 2013, for the first time since 1960.
Share It :
“The number of babies dying before the age of one has consistently gone down over the last decades in Gaza, from 127 per 1,000 live births in 1960 to 20.2 in 2008,” the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said in a statement cited by Agence France Presse (AFP).
“At the last count, in 2013, it had risen to 22.4 per 1,000 live births.”
According to a new study by the UNRWA, the number of Palestinian babies dying before four weeks old has risen from 12 per 1,000 live births in 2008 to 20.3 in 2013.
“Every five years UNRWA conducts a survey of infant mortality across the region, and the 2013 results were released this week,” it said, adding that because of the data it would conduct a new Gaza-specific survey this year.
The sharp increase in infants’ mortality rate in the besieged strip is “unprecedented” in the Middle East, Akihiro Seita, director of the agency’s health program, said.
“When the 2013 results from Gaza were first uncovered, UNRWA was alarmed by the apparent increase,” he was quoted by the AFP.
“So we worked with independent research groups to examine the data, to ensure the increase could be confirmed.
“That is why it took us so long to release these latest figures.”
The health program director believes that the continued Israeli blockade of coastal strip since 2006 has contributed to the sudden increase of mortality rates among neonatal Palestinians.
“It is hard to know the exact causes behind the increase in both neonatal and infant mortality rates, but I fear it is part of a wider trend,” Seita told AFP.
“We are very concerned about the impact of the long-term blockade on health facilities, supplies of medicines and bringing equipment in to Gaza.”
Last year, Israel launched relentless airstrikes against Gaza from July 8 to August 26, leaving more than 2,100 killed and thousands injured.
According to UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), about 80% of deaths in Gaza were civilians, including dozens of children and women.
Out of 2,131 Palestinians who died in the latest fighting, 501 were children, said the United Nations.
About 70% of the children killed were under 12, according to the UN children’s agency, UNICEF.
