At the World Health Summit in Berlin, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged a $1.2 billion donation to help eradicate polio in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the two remaining countries where the virus is endemic, as per Forbes.
Moreover, the donation should also help prevent the emergence of new strains of polio. This was after the first vaccine-derived polio case is reported in New York in almost a decade.
Gates Urges Donors to Support Eradication Strategy
The foundation made the announcement of its donation ahead of a key pledging moment that will be co-hosted by Germany and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).
The money will proceed to GPEI, a partnership that includes the Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to ABC News, the fund donated by the foundation will be utilize to help implement the GPEI's Polio Eradication Strategy 2022-2026.
"Polio eradication is within reach. But as far as we have come, the disease remains a threat. Working together, the world can end this disease," said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Gates also expressed his gratitude to Germany for co-hosting World Health Summit. Likewise, he thanked the country for its longstanding support for polio eradication.
"I urge other donors to support the eradication strategy to ensure no one is paralyzed by polio again," Gates added.
GPEI is aiming to raise $4.8 billion for its Polio Eradication Strategy 2022-2026 program.
A GPEI pledging moment will be held at the World Health Summit, which will be co-hosted by Germany.
In the pledging moment, global partners, donors and country leaders are expected to make their commitments toward the GPEI Strategy 2022-2026.
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Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is Dedicated to Achieve a Polio-Free Future
According to Melinda French-Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the fight against polio has not only protected children against polio. More than protecting the children from the virus, it has a central role in strengthening health systems.
If the $4.8 billion target will be reached, GPEI is expected to bring polio vaccine and other essential health services to 370 million children each year.
"The last steps to eradication are by far the toughest. But our foundation remains dedicated to a polio-free future, and we're optimistic that we will see it soon," said Mark Suzman, CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Since 1988, GPEI has done greatly to prevent an estimated 20 million cases of polio paralysis. Likewise, the organization has helped reduce polio cases globally by more than 99%.
GPEI was able to attain all of these by working closely with governments worldwide.
However, despite of these milestones in combating the disease, interruptions in routine immunization, vaccine misinformation, political unrest, and the tragic floods in Pakistan in 2022 have led to the failure to completely eradicate polio.
Polio is a highly infectious disease that used to paralyze and kill thousands of children annually. It spread mainly through contamination by fecal matter.
Until today, there is no known cure for the disease but children are likely to get nearly 100% immunity with three injections of the vaccine.
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