The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Rotary International have pledged a donation of $200 million in an effort to help wipe polio off the face of the earth.
On Monday the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation offered a challenge donation of $100 million to Rotary International which in turn has decided to match the donation dollar for dollar.
Although the donation, is being welcomed by global-health officials there will still be a considerable need over the next three years where funding is concerned. The pledge comes at a time when a number of scientists have expressed doubts about the current tactics employed in the eradication of polio.
This amount will be taken from donations made by club members. Officials of the Rotary Club say the Gates donation will be transferred in 2008 to UNICEF and the World Health Organization and will be used in polio immunization programs. Since 1992 the rotary has given over $600 million to efforts for the eradication of the disease.
Chairman and leader Rotary's polio-eradication effort, Dr Robert Scott, says, "Since the virus moves from child to child, it is capable of re-emerging anywhere in the world if we let down our guard and don't eradicate it."
Polio is an infectious disease that leaves one crippled. It is from one person to another or through water contamination. It has been eliminated in most countries but is still quite common in countries like India and Nigeria which account for 85% of all polio cases today. It is still prevalent in Pakistan and Afghanistan, too.
According to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative's website 735 cases have been reported worldwide so far in 2007. These include new outbreaks in seven counties that had earlier eliminated the disease.
Director general of the World Health Organization, Dr. Margaret Chan states, "We have very few opportunities to improve the world's public health in a permanent way, and this is one.
"We are closer to this goal than ever before. All four of the remaining polio-endemic countries are largely on track to reach very ambitious milestones."
Since the start of the eradication campaign in 1988, the numbers have fallen each year. Last year, according to the World Health Organization, there were fewer than 2,000 cases reported worldwide. So far, this year 735 cases have been noted.
Co-chairman of the foundation, William H. Gates Sr., expressed his hope that the grant would inspire others to contribute to it, too.
