Global leaders pledge $1.9 billion in Abu Dhabi to end polio

International leaders, philanthropists, and global health partners announced on Monday in Abu Dhabi a collective $1.9 billion to advance polio eradication.

This includes approximately $1.2 billion in newly pledged funds that will reduce the remaining resource gap for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s (GPEI) 2022-2029 Strategy to $440 million.

The funds will accelerate vital efforts to reach 370 million children each year with polio vaccines, alongside strengthening health systems in affected countries to protect children from other preventable diseases.

The global pledging event, "Investing in Humanity: Uniting to End Polio", was hosted by the Mohamed bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity in partnership with GPEI and took place at Abu Dhabi Finance Week.

The event was attended by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice Chairman of the Mohamed bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity; Ahsan Iqbal Chaudhary, Minister for Planning and Development, Pakistan; Bill Gates, Chair of the Gates Foundation; and Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organisation; alongside leaders from governments, multilateral institutions, and the private sector.

Pledges were made from a diverse group of donors and countries, including: $1.2 billion from the Gates Foundation; $140 million from the Mohamed bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity; $450 million from Rotary International; $100 million from Bloomberg Philanthropies; $154 million from Pakistan and $62 million from Germany; $46 million from the United States of America; $6 million from Japan; $4 million from the Islamic Food & Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA); and $3 million from Luxembourg.

"We are on the cusp of eradicating polio and securing a historic win for humanity. But we need all countries, partners and donors to step up now to get the job done,” said Dr Ghebreyesus. “The new support pledged in Abu Dhabi will be instrumental in helping the GPEI reach all children in the final endemic countries and stop variant polio outbreaks around the world."

President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is a global leader in polio eradication, committing $525 million since 2011 and bringing global resources and attention to the cause. The UAE’s Emirates Polio Campaign has also distributed more than 850 million vaccine doses to children across Pakistan since 2014, with a focus on immunising children in remote and hard-to-reach communities.

Monday's pledging moment is the third hosted in Abu Dhabi, following summits in 2013 and 2019 that collectively raised $6.6 billion for GPEI’s work to end polio.

Wild poliovirus is now endemic in only two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan, but outbreaks of variant poliovirus still threaten children around the world.

The pledges reaffirm international resolve to finish the job and protect future generations from a disease that once paralysed 1,000 children every day across 125 countries.

Success would make polio just the second human disease ever eradicated, after smallpox, and is projected to save the world more than $33 billion by 2,100 compared to the ongoing cost of outbreak control.

“The fight to end polio shows what is possible when the world invests together in a shared goal. We’re 99.9 percent of the way there – but the last stretch demands the same determination that got us this far,” said Bill Gates. “This renewed funding will help us cross the finish line and strengthen the systems that protect children from this terrible disease for good.”