World leaders pledge $2.6 billion to eradicate polio

Berlin: The United Nation's health agency said during a summit in Berlin on Tuesday that it had received some $2.6 billion (€2.64 billion) in pledges as part of its five-year campaign to end the deadly polio virus.

The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomed the funding but warned that eradicating the disease by 2026 would be no easy feat, pointing especially to the rise in cases this year, including in countries previously thought to be free of the virus.

"The new detections of polio this year in previously polio-free countries are a stark reminder that if we do not deliver our goal of ending polio everywhere, it may resurge globally," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

"We must remember the significant challenges we have overcome to get this far against polio, stay the course and finish the job once and for all."

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) is looking for a total of $4.8 billion to carry out its program.

Countries and organizations met in Berlin for the World Health Summit to make the pledges. Almost half came from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation — $1.2 billion.

Germany pledged $72 million. "No place is safe until polio has been eradicated everywhere," German Economic Cooperation and Development Minister Svenja Schulze said at the summit.

 "The good thing is that polio can be defeated, there is a vaccine," Schulze told DW.

"We know at least since COVID-19 that nobody is safe until everyone is safe," she added.

Why is the polio virus dangerous?
Polio was once endemic across 125 countries, but since 1988, following a massive international effort, the number of cases has decreased by 99%.

The virus now only exists in its wild form in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but imported cases were reported in Malawi and Mozambique in 2022.

The virus mainly affects children under the age of five, often leading to paralysis.

The GPEI is hoping to complete the eradication of the virus with a final health campaign that aims to vaccinate 370 million children each year over the next five years.