The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) was deeply saddened by the UK parliament’s decision to support significant cuts to international aid, which will continue for at least five years. The cuts include a proposed 95% reduction in the contributions made to the GPEI by the UK for 2021. It is not clear whether this percentage reduction will apply in subsequent years but given the lower overall available funding, the GPEI will have to plan for significant funding cuts in the future.    

The UK pledged at the 2019 Reaching the Last Mile Conference in Abu Dhabi to help vaccinate more than 400 million children a year against polio. The GPEI already began incorporating those funds into its plans for global activities, and the process of implementing changes during the 2020-21 financial year will be deeply disruptive to the GPEI’s programmatic planning. The COVID-19 pandemic has left more children vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases such as polio and the impact of the cuts – now approved by parliament – will be profound.

The polio programme’s importance to global health security cannot be overstated. During the pandemic, the GPEI’s resources and expertise have been deployed extensively to assist the COVID-19 response. The unique value of the polio infrastructure was recently highlighted during the G7 meeting that took place in the UK when world leaders called for a global pandemic radar built on the existing surveillance networks of the polio and influenza programme.

That we are so close to a polio-free world is thanks in large part to longstanding UK leadership and investment. The GPEI looks forward to working with the UK and its other longstanding partners to protect progress and address the urgent issues that will arise from this shortfall in funding, and ultimately secure a world free of polio.