$1.2 billion anti-polio fund

Atotal of US $1.2 billion for the global fight against polio was pledged to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative of Rotary by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and donor governments during the 100th anniversary celebration of the Rotary Foundation on Tuesday.

The Rotary, together with its partners and donors, has reduced the polio cases in the Philippines by 99.9 percent since it began its first project in 1997 to vaccinate Filipino children.

The government of Canada honored the Rotary Foundation on its 100th anniversary by committing $100 million to the polio fund.

Rotary president John Germ and Bill Gates announced before some 40,000 Rotarians gathered at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta city, USA, the Gates Foundation’s commitment of US $450 million to support the polio eradication project. In return, the Rotary committed to raise $50 million a year over the next three years and the Gates Foundation to match it by a ratio of $2 for every dollar.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $450 million, Pakistan $154.7 million, Rotary International $150 million, Nigeria $134.6 million, Canada $100 million, European Commission $61.4 million, Japan $55 million, UAE $30 million, Dalio Foundation $30 million, Bloomberg Philanthropies $25 million, anonymous $15 million, Germany $11.2 million, Easyjet $5 million, Italy $5 million, South Korea $4 million, Korea Foundation for International Health care $2million, UN Foundation $1.7million, Switzerland $1.03 million, Unicef USA $514,000, Luxemburg $500,000, Monaco $330,000; New Era Educational & Charitable Foundation $130,000; Turkey $60,000, Malta $20,000, Spain $20,000 and Accenture USA $20,000.

The funds will go to the efforts to eradicate polio like disease surveillance, response to outbreaks and the vaccination of more than 400 million children all over the world every year. The Rotary has raised more than $1.7 billion since 1985 to fight this paralyzing disease.”

The funds will go to the efforts to eradicate polio like disease surveillance, response to outbreaks and vaccination