Bill Gates has urged countries to fight against polio and pledged to raise more than $1 billion donations to chase down the remaining last few cases of the fatal disease.
At the ‘Reaching the Last Mile Forum’ in Abu Dhabi, Gates’ donation has made up half of $2.6 billion that was promised by international donors and affected countries in order to fight and eradicate polio.
The billion-dollar finds will be used to bolster vaccination efforts and surveillance of the disease, which is still endemic in just two countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Gates said, “Even a single child paralyzed by polio is one too many. And we know that if we stopped eradication efforts now, there could be a resurgence of up to 200,000 cases annually by 2029.”
“I don’t have a crystal ball on this but we think there’s a good chance we will get [polio] soon. But already we have to admit it’s taken longer than expected,” he added.
Over the last three decades, the world has made tremendous progress in eradicating polio. In the summer, Nigeria health officials announced that they have not seen a single case of polio since 2016.
However, there are a few challenges to declare the eradication of polio for once and all. Pakistan, in particular, has been struggling to eliminate the disease.
Gates said, “In some of the areas in Pakistan, including on the border with Afghanistan, the insecurity has been tough.” Another challenge in Pakistan include parents being reluctant to get their children vaccinated.
CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said the “world had to stay the course.” He said, “We have to eradicate not just human disease but we also have to eradicate polio from the environment. That’s why this round of funding is very important.”
Experts will start testing sewage samples to check the infection in the environment once the disease is eliminated and there are no more clinical cases.
Dr. Redfield said, “This will take a period of about three to five years and then there will be some debate about when one begins to withdraw the vaccine. WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “There were few greater gifts we can give new generations than to eradicate disease. We need to continue the political commitment and funding to finish the job. The infrastructure we have built must not die with polio.”
