When Hanin first sought care for her malnourished daughter in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the clock began ticking on her chances of survival. “[My] child was in a critical condition. They referred me to the hospital but there was no means of transportation,” explains Hanin. Finally, they reached the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) inpatient therapeutic feeding centre on a cart. “My child was tired. She was resting her head towards me and not moving. She was close to death before we reached the hospital.”

After nine months of relentless war, people’s access to healthcare in Gaza continues to worsen, particularly for those most vulnerable when healthcare is unavailable, such as pregnant women and children. Their vulnerability has been exacerbated by repeated displacement, inadequate living conditions, insecurity, and poor nutritional conditions. As a result, MSF teams are seeing an increase in pre-term deliveries and malnutrition in children in the south of Gaza.

“The main health risks for pregnant women are blood-pressure related complications such as eclampsia, haemorrhage and sepsis – which can become deadly if not treated in time,” says MSF emergency unit health advisor Mercè Rocaspana. “In contexts like Gaza, late access to care is posing a health risk to pregnant women and their children, where the health system has been decimated and collapsed, posing severe risk to the health of pregnant women and their children are tragic - even lethal.”