How a neonatal and breastfeeding specialist is supporting women and children in Gaza
In Gaza, Palestine, winter is biting. According to the UN’s humanitarian agency, after 15 months of war with Israel – and as a ceasefire, which will initially run for six weeks, is implemented – 90% of the city’s population has been displaced.
As such, people are mostly living in tents and makeshift shelters. Such conditions could prove perilous to anyone. New mothers and their children, though, are an especially vulnerable group. Some babies are freezing to death in the region’s coldest months, the BBC reported recently.
It comes amid a severe shortage of items which could help, like warm clothes, enough food – acute malnutrition has increased tenfold among the Gazan population, according to charity Unicef – and shelter materials. Aid groups have accused Israel of hindering or blocking shipments into Gaza. Israel has denied doing so. Under the ceasefire deal, it has been agreed that 600 aid lorries can enter Gaza each day. At present, serious challenges in getting aid through remain, Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said in January.
In such circumstances, access to healthcare is as vital as it is lacking. ‘In contexts like Gaza, where the health system has been decimated and has collapsed, late access to care is posing a health risk to pregnant women and their children,’ Mercè Rocaspana, an emergency health advisor for Médecins Sans Frontiéres said last year. The charity recorded an increase in preterm deliveries and malnutrition in children in the south of Gaza last summer.
It is here that Dr Lubna al-Azaiza, a local paediatrician and breastfeeding specialist, set up a makeshift clinic, initially in a tent. From here, she provides as much care as possible to women and their children who have had their homes destroyed. (Dr al-Azaiza says that she and her family are included within this count.)
She estimates she’s treating around 300-400 people each month. The tent, explains Dr Sayyada Mawji, a GP and humanitarian doctor, has since expanded into a mobile clinic. That’s been actualised through funding from charity Who is Hussain (of which Dr Mawji is Head of Relief) and the International Network for Aid, Relief & Assistance (INARA), who have partnered up to help. Here, Dr al-Azaiza offers health services: baby milk and nappies; wound care; maternity check-ups and educational workshops for new mothers lacking access to proper maternity care.
Following the donation of a portable ultrasound device from INARA, she has been able to see pregnant women for scans and check-ups. Hard to overstate is how hard this work is. ‘Operating a makeshift clinic in Gaza comes with immense challenges. Everyday volunteers on the ground risk their lives to deliver vital care. Access to basic medical equipment, medications and even essentials like clean water and electricity is extremely limited,’ adds Dr Mawji.
Via email, WH spoke with Dr al-Azaiza via email, to ask what life is like for her, right now. If you’d like to support her work, you can donate here. This interview was conducted before the ceasefire deal was reached.
Women's Health: Can you tell us how you came to set up the child and nursing mother-friendly tent?
Dr Lubna al-Azaiza: As a doctor, I hold myself accountable to help my people, especially those in need. After the clinic I worked in was damaged, I started to try and provide what care I could, from a tent. It was only me for four months, then, through posting on social media, I began to get help. The International Network for Aid, Relief & Assistance stepped in, helping me to expand services, because they were able to donate things like baby milk, nappies and referrals to nutrition services.
Women's Health: Can you detail the medical issues which women and children are facing in Gaza?
Dr Lubna al-Azaiza: It’s a cycle of suffering and overwhelming stressors. Malnutrition from lack of food is impacting breastfeeding women, impairing their ability to deliver milk to their babies. So is stress. I recently saw a woman whose husband died just a few days before she delivered. The shock and fear meant she was unable to feed at all. In cases such as these, the baby needs formula, which is expensive and often hard to get hold of. Hygiene is affecting many females, too. Sanitary pads are not available. Many have infections due to lack of water to wash in and the poor hygiene conditions. Children are at high risk of malnutrition and skin diseases due to the living conditions.
Women's Health: What do you miss the most about the care you were able to provide, before the clinic was damaged?
Dr Lubna al-Azaiza: I miss feeling safe while supporting people. We do not feel safe and at every moment we are at high risk [of contracting a disease in unsanitary conditions; from missiles.] Having access to electricity for high quality services is also something I miss.
Women's Health: What has changed, now that winter has begun?
Dr Lubna al-Azaiza: Because we provide services not in a building, we’re more vulnerable to the cold. And, in winter, issues like flu, and a worsening of symptoms for people with respiratory illnesses, are more common. Because we have been displaced, however, medicines – particularly cough medicines and antibiotics – are often not available.
Women's Health: Do you have any hopes for the future?
Dr Lubna al-Azaiza: Once the war has stopped, I hope to build a health centre to provide health services, as well as consultation and education. Here, I’d love to have a space for children to play.
Women's Health: What is your message to the women reading this?
Dr Lubna al-Azaiza: For the international community who would read this, I would like to say that Palestinian women in Gaza deserve to live in dignity, with equal rights.
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