Bill Gates up front against polio: “I would do practically anything to help eradicate it”

The Bill Gates Foundation has already contributed more than $5 billion to the Global Initiative to Eradicate Polio (GIEP).

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged to invest $1.2 billion over the next five years to support efforts to eradicate all forms of polio globally.

Bill Gates up front against polio: “I would do practically anything to help eradicate it”

The organization made the announcement from Berlin, where the World Health Summit is held this Sunday and before the meeting of the Global Initiative for the Eradication of Polio (IGEP) is held next Tuesday.

These funds will be used to implement the IGEP Strategy 2022-2026, which seeks to eradicate outbreaks of the disease in the two countries where it is still endemic, Pakistan and Afghanistan , and prevent outbreaks of virus variants. The Bill Gates Foundation has already contributed more than 5 billion in total to the IGEP.

“ The eradication of polio is possible, but it is still a threat. By collaborating the world can put an end to this disease ”, highlighted Bill Gates.

“I want to thank Germany for co-hosting this week’s events and for their continued support of polio eradication. I call on other donors to support the eradication strategy so that no one is paralyzed by polio again,” he added.

The IGEP meeting is held next Tuesday and it is expected that there will be more funding commitments from donors and leaders from various countries to achieve the 4.8 billion dollars budgeted in the agency’s 2022-2026 Strategy .

The plan foresees vaccinating 370 million children a year and providing other basic health services , as well as measures to support local authorities, respond to possible outbreaks or help develop the next generation of polio vaccines.

Bill Gates up front against polio: “I would do practically anything to help eradicate it”

IGEP is estimated to have saved more than 20 million children from this paralyzing disease and death . This year and for the first time in a long time, cases have been registered in Africa and there are fears for children who have not received the vaccine due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This highly contagious disease invades the nervous system and can cause permanent paralysis. It is more common among children under five years of age, but anyone who has not been vaccinated is susceptible to infection.

Since its launch in 1988, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative has helped reduce cases by 99% , averting more than 20 million cases of paralysis, the foundation said in a statement.

horror in new york

In mid-August, New York health authorities warned that this highly contagious disease, which is transmitted through feces, secretions from the nose and throat, or by drinking contaminated water, had been detected in sewage .

A “worrying but not surprising” discovery, according to the authorities, who believe that “the virus is probably circulating locally” and that New Yorkers who have not yet been vaccinated should do so as soon as possible.

In mid-July, the first confirmed case of polio was reported in Rockland County, the first in the United States since 2013.

Bill Gates up front against polio: “I would do practically anything to help eradicate it”

In New York City, 86% of children ages six months to five years have received three doses of the vaccine, meaning the remaining 14% are not fully protected .

In Rockland County, only 60% of two-year-olds are vaccinated, compared to 79% in New York state as a whole and 92% nationwide, according to health officials.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said “concerned” and sent experts to the state of New York this summer to improve detection and vaccination , as it is a disease that can have “devastating and irreversible consequences” .