Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / UN estimates 42,000 adults and children in Gaza have life-changing injuries

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UN estimates 42,000 adults and children in Gaza have life-changing injuries · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: Well.
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  Speaker 2: The war in Gaza has had an enormous humanitarian impact,
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  Speaker 2: of course, particularly on children. The World Health Organization estimates
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  Speaker 2: that forty two thousand people in Gaza suffered life changing
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  Speaker 2: injuries during the war. Figure includes around ten thousand children.
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  Speaker 2: That's the estimate from the UN Body, and three thousand,
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  Speaker 2: eight hundred children need specialist treatment outside of Gaza. This month,
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  Speaker 2: the UN's World Health Organization stress the urgent need for fuel,
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  Speaker 2: medical supplies, prosthetics, and assistive devices, and call for medical
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  Speaker 2: evacuations to be prioritized. Doctor Zena Sulman is co founder
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  Speaker 2: of the nonprofit organization Heel Palestine who's working with children
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  Speaker 2: in Gaza. Very good to have you with us. Doctor,
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  Speaker 2: thank you for taking the time. Firstly, how is the
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  Speaker 2: team in Gaza at the moment that you're in contact
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  Speaker 2: with and how are some of their patients.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having me, Lucy, and for
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  Speaker 1: highlighting this very important topic. We have an incredible team
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  Speaker 1: on the ground that's been so resilient over the past
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  Speaker 1: two plus years, but they're suffering. We have to be
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  Speaker 1: realistic and they're suffering just like everyone else. When you
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  Speaker 1: have a team that's doing humanitarian aid work on the
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  Speaker 1: ground in Gaza, and they themselves are facing starvation. We
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  Speaker 1: have a meeting with them and they say, I'm sorry,
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  Speaker 1: I can't respond. I can barely think. I haven't eaten
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  Speaker 1: since yesterday. You realize the reality of this, even the
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  Speaker 1: aid workers are suffering. Everyone on the ground is suffering.
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  Speaker 1: One hundred percent of people.
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  Speaker 2: And zeen of their patients. The children particularly hard for
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  Speaker 2: them to be resilient when you know there's just not
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  Speaker 2: the things that are needed to help them get through
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  Speaker 2: the hours and the days. I mean literally absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, as a pediatrician, children's health comes first in
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  Speaker 1: my mind, and we've seen a population of children, as
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  Speaker 1: you mentioned at the beginning, who've been not only physically injured,
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  Speaker 1: but have endured so much the really unimaginable trauma over
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  Speaker 1: the past two years. But even prior to that, we've
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  Speaker 1: seen children who've lost family members. We have the largest
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  Speaker 1: population of child amputees in modern history, so kids who've
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  Speaker 1: lost one to three and four limbs. We see children
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  Speaker 1: who've been displaced multiple times from their homes and really
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  Speaker 1: have seen the unimaginable, and so it's really hard to
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  Speaker 1: think of them. They are resilient they're resilient population. They
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  Speaker 1: shouldn't have to be. No child should have to endure
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  Speaker 1: all of.
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  Speaker 2: This seen, given the level of need that is required,
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  Speaker 2: how do you begin to prioritize or assis which children
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  Speaker 2: get to be evacuated.
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  Speaker 1: That's really at the job of the physicians on the
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  Speaker 1: ground who are seeing these thousands and thousands of injured
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  Speaker 1: adults and children. At Heal Palestine, we've worked very hard
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  Speaker 1: to do evacuations in partnership with the World Health Organization,
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  Speaker 1: who's been incredible on the ground. We've brought out sixty
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  Speaker 1: three children to date, the vast majority of them, but
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  Speaker 1: not all of them are amputees. Many of them have
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  Speaker 1: other injuries or even congenital defects or diseases that they
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  Speaker 1: don't have access to care for because of the destruction
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  Speaker 1: of the health care system. Prioritization is incredibly difficult. How
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  Speaker 1: can you decide who's worth a child with cancer or
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  Speaker 1: a child with heart disease, you know, a child who's
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  Speaker 1: missing one limb or two. It's really difficult to make
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  Speaker 1: these decisions. What we do see is that every single
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  Speaker 1: one of these children, whether they are remain in gods
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  Speaker 1: or the quote unquote lucky ones who are able to
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  Speaker 1: make it out to some semblance of medical care, mental
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  Speaker 1: health care, and more remain incredibly traumatized through all of
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  Speaker 1: this and what they've seen and endured, and.
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  Speaker 2: How do you begin the healing on that front in
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  Speaker 2: terms of what they've been through psychologically.
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  Speaker 1: So the ones who've been able to come out, who've
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  Speaker 1: been lucky to come out, we are able to provide
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  Speaker 1: mental health services for in addition to the medical care
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  Speaker 1: that they need. We've seen incredible things. Children who are
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  Speaker 1: screaming in the middle of the night, who are bedwetting,
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  Speaker 1: who can't get through, you know, a day of school,
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  Speaker 1: whose behaviors have changed. We know that over ninety percent
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  Speaker 1: of the population is depressed, over eighty percent has anxiety symptoms,
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  Speaker 1: and PTSD is something that everyone talks about, but I
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  Speaker 1: think the reality is that there's no post trauma for
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  Speaker 1: any of these children, whether they're in Gaza or out.
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  Speaker 1: It's chronic traumatic stress. We know that even the kids
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  Speaker 1: who have come out, who we've begun to do mental
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  Speaker 1: health care for, and we begin that treatment in Gaza
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  Speaker 1: because we have a mental health team in Gaza who
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  Speaker 1: takes care of these children, provides therapy for them, group therapy,
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  Speaker 1: individualized therapy, art therapy, all different forms. In Egypt when
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  Speaker 1: they've been able to come out through their border, which
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  Speaker 1: still we haven't seen the open. We have a mental
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  Speaker 1: health team who sees them there as well, and then
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  Speaker 1: when they were coming to the US for temporary medical
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  Speaker 1: care in the United States, we were doing mental health
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  Speaker 1: treatment for them there. But the reality is that they
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  Speaker 1: continue to be traumatized. I'm thinking of a little boy
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  Speaker 1: who we had here for a prosthetic leg. He lost
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  Speaker 1: his leg in a bombing. He came with his mother,
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  Speaker 1: she lost six She left behind six children and her husband,
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  Speaker 1: and while they were here he'd finally completed his care.
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  Speaker 1: They were due to fly back to fly Egypt in
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  Speaker 1: two days to be close to the Gaza border, which
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  Speaker 1: they did leave eventually, but just before they left, right
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  Speaker 1: after he had completed treatment, a bomb struck their home.
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  Speaker 1: His father was killed, two of his six siblings were injured,
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  Speaker 1: severely injured. And that's the kind of trauma that these
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  Speaker 1: kids continue to endure and their families continue to endure.
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  Speaker 2: That is quite the story to end the interview on,
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  Speaker 2: but incredible work you and the team are doing, Doctor
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  Speaker 2: Zina salmon. Thank you very much for joining us, Thanks
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  Speaker 2: for having me