https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/12/26/ [login to see] /gaza-infectious-disease-outbreak-public-health-israel-palestine
In Gaza, the World Health Organization warns that illness may ultimately kill more people than Israel's offensive. Infectious diseases are "soaring," says the WHO. Over 100,000 cases of diarrhea have been reported, with rates among children 25 times higher than before the war.
War has shattered Gaza's health-care system, including its disease surveillance capabilities. So global health groups and health professionals are doing what they can to spot and prevent outbreaks in an increasingly desperate situation.
"It's our way of detecting the emergence of diseases that can result in an epidemic very, very, very quickly," says Rick Brennan, the WHO's Regional Emergency Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Region.