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The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Rotary International and the British and German governments today pledged $630 million over the next five years to vaccine and other programs designed to wipe out polio.

"I am urging everyone to redouble their commitment and see the eradication effort to the end," Bill Gates said today during a teleconference with reporters. Gates said he's confident that polio will become the second viral disease that humankind eradicates (the first being smallpox in 1979), but he was loath to predict when that might happen.

The Gates Foundation, which has contributed $655 million toward polio eradication since 1999, today pledged an additional $255 million over the next five years. Rotary has promised $100 million, and the U.K. and Germany are forking over $150 million and $130 million, respectively. This money will go to a variety of resources and activities essential to the eradication effort, from purchasing vaccines to training programs for health workers.

A disease that attacks the nervous system, polio most commonly strikes children under age five, causing nothing more than flulike symptoms in most but permanent paralysis in others. One in every 200 cases results in paralysis, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The virus is easily spread through dirty drinking water in areas with poor sanitation systems and continues to thrive in four countries—Nigeria, India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, where it annually paralyzes about 2,000 children.

The disease came close to being wiped out in the U.S. in the 1960s, but there were sporadic outbreaks in pockets where the vaccine was shunned—such as among the Amish in Lancaster County, Pa., in 1979. The WHO finally declared the Americas polio-free in 1994.

Since 1988, the WHO, the U.S. and other governments as well as charitable orgs such as Gates and Rotary have contributed $6 billion to eradicating polio. The international effort has cut polio cases by over 99 percent, from some 350,000 in 1988 to about 1,600 last year.

The infusion of new funds will focus on overcoming specific hurdles in each of the four countries where the disease still exists. Afghanistan, for instance, is embroiled in a war, which makes it dangerous for vaccinators to distribute the medicines, and Nigeria has fallen behind in its eradication campaign, because local government officials in some of the country's northern states have failed to provide training for health workers or programs to educate parents on the import of vaccinating their children.

"We need new efforts from the leaders in these countries where polio is still endemic," Gates said. "There's no target date yet for eradication because nobody knows what it will take."

Image Credit ©WHO/T. Moran

7 Comments

1. 1. TimkoG 12:30 PM 1/22/09

   Bill Gates has a huge hand in a Planned Parenthood foundation, deeply rooted in hardcore eugenics. I would'nt take anything prescribed by this man, let alone a polio vaccine, which in the past has killed thousands.

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2. 2. dcary3133 10:10 PM 1/22/09

   Maybe after he has eradicated polio he can take on ignorance. Already someone has spoken up as being in need.

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3. 3. lizzie123 12:27 AM 1/25/09

   I wish someone would tackle the overpopulation problem. If you can keep uneducated, homeless, poverty stricken, people from having babies every year, it would solve a lot more of the world's problems than wiping out one disease.

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4. 4. jotoch 02:01 AM 1/28/09

   Why does he not get more publicity than say...Oprah, Obama, The US Dollar? Finally a real, positive, American impact on the world. Thank you Mr. Gates for going against the capital grain(gain)!!! Eratication of disease only happens when ignornce and complacency are eraticated. Anyone who is against philanthropic uses of a gained income is inheritanlty wrong. What do you do for humankind? Gates is a fountain in an age of drains.

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5. 5. jotoch in reply to TimkoG 02:11 AM 1/28/09

   Polio kills hundreds of thousands...population control is seeking you out. The rest of us enjoy life and eachother.
   

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6. 6. Dr Suhas Kulkarni 10:59 AM 4/18/09

   As a Rotarian & Indian actively involved in the Polio Eradication Campaign, I am overwhelmed by the Bill & Melinda Gates' magnanimous donation. India is one of the main beneficiaries of this donation, & on behalf of all those making great efforts to drive polio out of this planet I thank Bill Gates for his wonderful gesture.

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7. 7. Michelle 02:11 PM 3/30/10

   My name is Michelle and well I want to tell you a little about me . I am married to awonderful husband . We have 3 wonderful children. We live modestly and we both work hard everyday. Now we are not special needs and we are able to put food on the table. And yes there alot of people worse off than myself. How ever if you do have all that money and just give it away well I just want you to know I am here if you ever get at a loss as to where to give it. I live in a trailer in Ga. and as hard as we try we can't see the forest for the trees. I have always wanted a house not a mansion but a house that is big enough for my crew but not to big that I can't keep it clean by myself. I still owe $27,000 on that dang trailer lol Im not kidding . I will never get that paid off . Its like at 11.99% . I got it when I was younger so anyhow. I am writing this as a stress reliever so I know there want be any grand check in the mail. But who knows right? Faith has a way. Any ways whoever reads this I hope you got a good laugh and just maby you know Bill and can put in a good word for me.
   
   
   With Fondest Wishes,
   Michelle

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