Ending Polio

At the Rotary International Convention, global leaders and key donors affirm their commitment to ending polio

With polio on the brink of eradication, nations from around the world and key donors pledged more than $1 billion on Monday to energize the global fight to end the paralyzing disease.

 

 

The historic pledges of new funds at the Rotary Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, will go toward drastically shrinking the $1.5 billion gap in the funding that the partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative say is needed to reduce polio cases to zero worldwide. Just five cases have been reported this year, the lowest number in history.  

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said ending polio would be one of the world’s greatest achievements. Gates told the crowd of nearly 24,000 that, starting 1 July, his foundation will extend its 2-to-1 match to cover up to $50 million in donations to Rotary for each of the next three years. The match and donations to Rotary would add up to $150 million per year over the next three years, which will add up to $450 million to the fight. The new funding will go toward polio eradication efforts such as disease surveillance, responses to any outbreaks, and the vaccination of more than 400 million children annually. 

"Polio is the thing I spend the most time on. Everyday I look at my email to see if we have a new case," Gates said. "I'm very inspired to be part of this. I'm also very humbled."