Global Health Community Commits Over $630 Million In Aggressive Push For Polio Eradication

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22nd January 2009, 06:22am - Views: 698





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Global Health Community Commits Over $630 Million in Aggressive Push for Polio

Eradication


SAN DIEGO, Jan. 21 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --


   Rotary International, Gates Foundation, United Kingdom, and Germany pledge  

critically needed funds and urge donor and endemic country governments to help

                      end crippling childhood disease


    Rotary International, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the British

and German governments today committed more than $630 million in new funds to

fight polio, a crippling and sometimes fatal disease that still paralyzes

children in parts of Africa and Asia and threatens children everywhere.  In

addition to pledging needed funds, leaders urged additional donors and leaders of

countries where polio still exists to join them in an aggressive push for

eradication. 


    The Gates Foundation is awarding a $255 million challenge grant to Rotary,

which Rotary will match with $100 million raised by its members over the next

three years.  At the same time, the United Kingdom is giving an additional $150

million (100 million pounds sterling) and Germany is giving an additional $130

million (EUR 100 million), both to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative

(GPEI). Contributions from the U.K. and Germany over the next five years will not

count toward Rotary’s match of the Gates Foundation challenge grant.


    As a spearheading partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI),

Rotary’s chief role is fundraising, advocacy, and mobilizing volunteers. The

announcements came during the Rotary International Assembly, the humanitarian

service organization’s annual leadership conference.


    "Rotarians, government leaders, and health professionals have made a

phenomenal commitment so polio afflicts only a small number of the world’s

children," said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation. "However, complete

elimination of the polio virus is difficult and will continue to be difficult for

a number of years. Rotary in particular has inspired my own personal commitment

to get deeply involved in achieving eradication."


    In accepting the Gates challenge, Rotary Foundation Chair Jonathan Majiyagbe

said the funding partnership will inspire other polio eradication allies, both

current and new, to ramp up their support.


    "With the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we are on the brink

of eradicating one of the most feared diseases in the world," Majiyagbe said.

"This shared commitment of Rotary and the Gates Foundation should encourage

governments and nongovernmental organizations to ensure that resources and the

will of the world are available to end polio once and for all."


    UK International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander said, "This 100

million pounds sterling pledge by the UK Government, combined with the money from

our other partners, is a massive boost in the battle to rid the world of the

scourge of polio. We have already significantly increased the number of

vaccinations for those people most at risk, and there has been real progress in

reducing the number of new infections. Now is the time to make the final push to

eradicate polio. This investment will ensure future generations in the developing

world will no longer have their lives blighted by this crippling disease."


    New funding and government support still required


Community Charity Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation 2 image

    The polio eradication initiative faces an ongoing funding shortfall that must

be closed if eradication is to be achieved. With these new investments, along

with contributions received from Canada, Russia, the United States and other

donors, the shortfall for 2009-10 is $340 million. The new funding from Germany

will further reduce the gap.


    "G-8 countries pledged repeatedly to take all necessary steps to eradicate

polio," said Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, German Minister for Economic Cooperation

and Development. "Germany has contributed significantly to living up to this

commitment. We urge other countries to join us in closing the funding gap and

ensuring that health workers have the support they need to protect the world’s

children from polio."


    Polio has been completely eliminated in the Americas, the Western Pacific,

and Europe, but the wild polio virus persists in Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and

Pakistan, and imported cases from these countries threaten other developing

nations. It is in these four countries that the most serious challenges exist,

including vaccine effectiveness (India), low vaccination coverage rates

(Nigeria), and access problems due to conflict (Afghanistan and Pakistan). Much

depends on the countries themselves.  Recent progress in key areas has shown that

these challenges can be overcome with sufficient national and sub-national

commitment.  


    Launched in 1988, the GPEI -- spearheaded by Rotary, the World Health

Organization, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF -- has

reduced the number of polio cases by 99 percent over the past two decades, from

more than 350,000 cases in 1988 to an estimated 1,600 in 2008.


    The GPEI partners will use the new polio eradication funds to support a range

of activities, including:


    - National Immunization Days, when countries aim to immunize every 

      child under five years old with oral polio vaccine

    - Supplemental immunization activities focused on providing extra 

      vaccinations to children in high-risk areas

    - Research into new vaccines and ways to ensure they are available 

      to vulnerable children

    - Surveillance activities to detect cases of polio so that progress 

      can be measured and outbreaks contained


    WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan said:  "Together with enhanced

commitment by the last four endemic countries at all levels, the new funding

commitments are precisely what is needed to help the governments in these

countries overcome the remaining barriers to reaching every child with polio

vaccine."


    "Successfully eradicating polio is crucially important, not just to ensure

that no child will ever again be paralyzed by this devastating disease, but also

to show that today -- in the 21st century -- we can deliver life-saving health

interventions to every single child, no matter where they live, and even in the

most difficult and challenging environments," said Dr. Chan, who in 2008 made

polio eradication WHO’s top operational priority.


    This is the second challenge grant for polio eradication the Gates Foundation

has given Rotary. The first came in November 2007, when Rotary agreed to match a

$100 million grant dollar-for-dollar. 


    Rotary clubs worldwide already are hard at work raising the matching funds

for what the organization has named Rotary’s $200 Million Challenge. Since the

first Gates Foundation challenge grant was announced, Rotary clubs have raised

more than $60 million toward the goal. Their enthusiastic commitment was a major

reason the second challenge was made and accepted. Rotary also invites the


polio eradication and contribute to Rotary’s $200 Million Challenge.


    For video and still photos go to:


Community Charity Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation 3 image


    http://www.gatesfoundation.org/press-room/Pages/news-market.aspx


    About Rotary International

    Founded in Chicago in 1905, Rotary is a worldwide organization of business

and professional leaders who provide humanitarian service and help to build

goodwill and peace in the world. Rotary’s global membership is approximately 1.2

million men and women who belong to more than 32,000 Rotary clubs in more than

200 countries and geographical areas. 


    About the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

    Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda

Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In

developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the

chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty.  In the United

States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest

resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and

life.  Based in Seattle, the foundation is led by CEO Jeff Raikes and co-chair

William H. Gates, Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates. More

information is available at www.gatesfoundation.org.  


SOURCE: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation


    CONTACT: Rotary International 

             +1-847-866-3234 

             pr@rotary.org; or 


             Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation 

             +1-206-709-3400 

             media@gatesfoundation.org



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