Rotary International

HEALTH/CULTURE

Rotary commits additional US$75 million to help end Polio

India remains a top priority until it receives Polio Free Certificate

Mumbai:  Rotary International has made a new funding commitment of US$75 million over three years to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) at the high-level side event on Polio eradication during the United Nations General Assembly session in New York. Convened by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and chaired by heads of state from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Australia, Bill Gates, and dignitaries from UK, Japan, Canada and Rotary International. This additional funding commitment which is in addition to USD 1.2 billion invested by Rotary to GPEI, follow action taken in May by the World Health Assembly, which declared polio eradication a “programmatic emergency for global public health.”

The side event -- “Our Commitment to the Next Generation: The Legacy of a Polio-free World” -- brought together leaders of the remaining endemic countries, and representatives of donor governments, development agencies, the GPEI partners, and the media to underscore the urgent need to finish the job of global polio eradication.

While announcing this commitment at the special event, Wilfrid Wilkinson, chair of The Rotary Foundation (TRF) said, “We are at a true tipping point, with success never closer than it is right now. We must seize the advantage by acting immediately, or risk breaking our pledge to the world’s children.” 

According to Deepak Kapur, Chairman, Rotary’s India National PolioPlus Committee (the body that oversees Rotary’s Polio campaign in the country), “The funding comes in at a crucial stage for the global Polio eradication campaign. It will be part of a worldwide effort to close a USD 945 million funding gap that threatens to derail the 24 year-old global health effort, even as new polio cases are at an all-time low and India is half the mark to achieve polio-free certificate. The additional funding will help India and other endemic countries in the months ahead to sustain and ensure the eradication efforts toward becoming Polio-free.”

Along with this new commitment from Rotary International at the special side-event, The Islamic Development Bank (IDB), a new donor to the polio eradication effort, announced a US$227 million loan to Pakistan.  The IDB also announced a $3 million grant for polio activities in Afghanistan.   

Further Julian Fantino, Canadian Minister of International Cooperation, announced a “Three for One Polio Challenge Initiative” with Rotarians in Canada and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Upon completion, the initiative would generate a total of $3 million for the GPEI.

The wild poliovirus is endemic only in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria; other countries are still at risk for re-established transmission of the virus through its “importation” from the endemics.  If eradication fails and polio rebounds, up to 200,000 children a year could be paralyzed. 

India has been polio free 20 months and most recently been taken off the WHO endemic list. India’s success against the virus was hailed as a significant achievement at the event. Rotary and polio partners are mindful of the risks posed by complacency, cross-border importation, diminishing funds and any decline in commitment in the wake of zero cases and the perception that the threat of virus is no more.India is striving to complete 2012 with similar resolve and commitment of ‘zero’ polio incidence while etching closer to the three year target before accomplishing the regional Polio-free certification by WHO in 2014