GERMANY — World leaders and philanthropic organizations have announced pledges totaling US$2.6 billion for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).
The pledging moment, co-hosted by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) at the World Health Summit in Berlin, was held to address critical funding gaps in GPEI’s 2022-2026 Strategy to End Polio.
GPEI’s 2022-2026 Strategy had a US$4.8 billion funding gap before the pledging period. These funds are required to carry out prevention campaigns and treatment responses, such as increasing vaccine access.
The GPEI is a public-private partnership with the ultimate goal of eradicating polio globally. It is led by the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged US$1.2 billion to the largest international public health initiative, Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).
Humanitarian organization Rotary International pledged $150 million, the United States pledged 114 million, Germany over US$70 million, and France over US$49 million.
The newly-announced pledges will support GPEI’s efforts to overcome obstacles to polio eradication, increase vaccine access, and continue disease surveillance across 50 countries.
The number of wild poliovirus (WPV) cases has decreased by 99.9% worldwide since the World Health Assembly first established the GPEI in 1988, but global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and political unrest have significantly hampered efforts to improve vaccine access.
Polio cases have recently increased due to circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPVs), which are rare, mutated versions of the poliovirus found in under-immunized communities.
Only two countries have wild poliovirus endemicity: Pakistan and Afghanistan. However, after only six cases were reported in 2021, 29 cases have been reported this year, including a small number of new detections in Malawi and Mozambique linked to a Pakistan-originating strain.
Furthermore, cVDPV outbreaks, poliovirus variants that can emerge in areas where not enough people have been immunized, continue to spread across Africa, Asia, and Europe, with new outbreaks detected in the United States, Israel, and the United Kingdom in recent months.
Polio resurgence
The Director-General of the WHO, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, in the statement also said, “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.
“We are grateful for donors’ new and continued support for eradication, but there is further work to do to fully fund the 2022-2026 Strategy. 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.”
Aside from funding for GPEI, a group of over 3000 influential scientists, physicians, and public health experts from around the world issued a declaration endorsing the 2022-2026 Strategy and urging donors to remain committed to eradication and ensure GPEI is fully funded.
The group cites new tactics in the program’s strategy, such as the continued roll-out of the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2), as reasons for their confidence in GPEI’s ability to eradicate polio.
Five hundred million doses of nOPV2 have already been administered in 23 countries, and field data continue to demonstrate its promise as a tool for more sustainably stopping type 2 cVDPV outbreaks.
The group also claims that eradication support significantly strengthens immunization systems and pandemic preparedness around the world, citing GPEI’s support for the COVID-19 response, and urges endemic and polio-affected country leaders to remain committed to expanded vaccination and disease surveillance activities.
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