Rotary gives $53.5 million to help eradicate polio and challenges the world to continue the fight to end the disease.
Photo by Khaula Jamil
 
Rotary is giving $53.5 million in grants to support immunization and surveillance activities led by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).

More than half of the funds will support efforts to end polio in two of the three countries where polio remains endemic:
    •    Afghanistan: $12.03 million
    •    Pakistan: $19.31 million

Further funding will support efforts to keep 10 vulnerable countries polio-free:
    •    Cameroon: $1.61 million
    •    Central African Republic: $428,000
    •    Chad: $2.33 million
    •    The Democratic Republic of Congo: $6.48 million
    •    Ethiopia: $1.82 million
    •    Iraq: $2 million
    •    Niger: $1.71 million
    •    Somalia: $3.29 million
    •    South Sudan: $835,300
    •    Syria: $428,000

An additional $731,338 will fund research to be conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), and another $518,000 will go toward technical assistance in West and Central Africa.
While significant strides have been made against the disease, polio remains a threat in hard-to-reach and underserved areas and conflict zones. Despite a historically low case count, as long as a single child has polio, all children are at risk, which underscores the need for continued funding and political commitment to eradication.

Rotary has committed to raising $150 million over the next three years, which will be matched 2-to-1 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, yielding $450 million for polio eradication activities, including immunization and surveillance.
Rotary started its polio eradication program PolioPlus in 1985, and in 1988 became a partner in the GPEI, along with WHO, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation later became a partner. Since the initiative launched, the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99.9 percent, from about 350,000 cases in 1988 to just 22 confirmed cases in 2017 (as of 25 January). Rotary has contributed a total of more than $1.7 billion — including matching funds from the Gates Foundation — and countless volunteer hours to protect more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries from polio.