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
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:
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
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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