Charitable Groups Pledge $1.2B to Global Polio Eradication Initiative

The public health world is gearing up once again for a final push to eradicate polio and, with only five cases recorded in the world so far this year, that elusive goal seems tantalizingly within reach.

On Monday, representatives of charitable groups and governments gathered at the Rotary convention in Atlanta and pledged an additional $1.2 billion over three years to fund the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which aims to eradicate the childhood disease by 2020. That is just shy of the $500 million needed annually for the global vaccination program.

The biggest contributor is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which pledged $450 million; Rotary International, the service club that has made ridding the world of polio its mission, will contribute $150 million, Nigeria $140 million, Pakistan (via the Islamic Development Bank) $100 million, Canada $75 million, and a host of other donors.