Rotary International and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) joined hands to address the funding gap in the new strategic plan announced by Global Polio Eradication
Initiative (GPEI) towards polio eradication. BMGF has announced to
contribute twice the amount raised by Rotary International to stall
polio from making a comeback. The projected cost for eradicating polio
in the next six years is $5.5 billion.
"Going forward, the Gates Foundation will match two-to-one, up to $35 million per year, every dollar Rotary commits to reduce the funding shortfall for polio eradication through 2018," said Jeff Raikes, CEO, BMGF. The estimated cost of the initiative's 2013-18 polio eradication and endgame strategic plan is $5.5 billion and a funding commitment of $4 billion has been announced at the Global Vaccine Summit in April 2013. But unless the current deficit is met, the anti-polio campaign is not foolproof.
The campaign can be affected to an extent as the immunization efforts need to be sustained throughout the globe. The joint effort is called End Polio Now - Make History Today. "The value of this new partnership with Rotary is more than $500 million (approx 3,000 crores). In this way, your contributions to polio will work twice as hard," added Raikes.
Analyzing the critical phase at which 'Polio end game is at present, Deepak Kapur, Chairman Rotary's India National Polio Plus Committee (INPPC), who has been leading the effort for Rotary in India for more than a decade said, "GPEI's six-year end polio strategy is a global immunization plan with the goal of ending polio while improving efforts to protect all children, including the most vulnerable, with life-saving vaccines."
India has gone over two successful years without a case of polio and the surveillance and monitoring report indicate another strong year for India to finally clinch the regional polio-free certification in 2014. However, the danger of virus importation exists because of the neighbouring polio endemic countries looms large. The eradication effort in Pakistan has been sabotaged time and again by radical groups, who have targeted polio volunteers, even killing some. "Polio can rebound and affect 2,00,000 children worldwide. More so in countries like India where a child is born every second and needs protection," Kapur said.
Globally, polio has decreased by 99% to just 69 cases this year. Three countries - Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria - remain endemic for the disease.
Source : TOI , 27th June 2013
"Going forward, the Gates Foundation will match two-to-one, up to $35 million per year, every dollar Rotary commits to reduce the funding shortfall for polio eradication through 2018," said Jeff Raikes, CEO, BMGF. The estimated cost of the initiative's 2013-18 polio eradication and endgame strategic plan is $5.5 billion and a funding commitment of $4 billion has been announced at the Global Vaccine Summit in April 2013. But unless the current deficit is met, the anti-polio campaign is not foolproof.
The campaign can be affected to an extent as the immunization efforts need to be sustained throughout the globe. The joint effort is called End Polio Now - Make History Today. "The value of this new partnership with Rotary is more than $500 million (approx 3,000 crores). In this way, your contributions to polio will work twice as hard," added Raikes.
Analyzing the critical phase at which 'Polio end game is at present, Deepak Kapur, Chairman Rotary's India National Polio Plus Committee (INPPC), who has been leading the effort for Rotary in India for more than a decade said, "GPEI's six-year end polio strategy is a global immunization plan with the goal of ending polio while improving efforts to protect all children, including the most vulnerable, with life-saving vaccines."
India has gone over two successful years without a case of polio and the surveillance and monitoring report indicate another strong year for India to finally clinch the regional polio-free certification in 2014. However, the danger of virus importation exists because of the neighbouring polio endemic countries looms large. The eradication effort in Pakistan has been sabotaged time and again by radical groups, who have targeted polio volunteers, even killing some. "Polio can rebound and affect 2,00,000 children worldwide. More so in countries like India where a child is born every second and needs protection," Kapur said.
Globally, polio has decreased by 99% to just 69 cases this year. Three countries - Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria - remain endemic for the disease.
Source : TOI , 27th June 2013
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