The world is in a better position than ever to finish the job on polio. To bring us over the finish line, Global Citizens, engaged citizens from all around the world, have signed petitions, tweeted, emailed, and even called their leaders asking them to fill the funding gap needed to achieve full eradication by 2019. In the lead up to this year’s Global Citizen Festival held on 24 September, individual Global Citizens took 134 470 actions to end polio leading Prime Minister Muscat of Malta and Prime Minister Bettel of Luxembourg to announce new funding commitments of $30,000 and at least 2 million euros until 2019, respectively, for polio eradication.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also encouraged Global Citizens to email world leaders on polio; instead, they took it one step further and called him, by the thousands. He received the message and responded to Global Citizens (and Rihanna) in a video message, showcased at the Global Citizen Festival, with Usher:

“Lately my office has been flooded with phone calls and tweets from many of you. Thanks Rihanna! I’ve heard your voices loud and clear on a whole range of issues – from supporting the eradication of polio, to ensuring every girl everywhere has the chance to go to school. Canada has long supported efforts to fight polio, which is now 99.9 % eliminated. And we will be a strong partner through to the end. Thank you for keeping these issues on our global agenda. Keep calling, keep tweeting, keep lighting up our switchboards. We’re listening, and we’re taking action. You’ve shown to the world that change starts with you. Together, we will end it for good.” – Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

Global Citizens are holding Prime Minister Trudeau to his promise. They will continue to call on Canada, UK, and other countries to fully fund efforts to end polio. Together, we can make polio the second disease to be eradicated within our lifetimes.

About Global Citizen: Global Citizen is a campaigning and advocacy organization that is catalyzing a movement to end extreme poverty by 2030. As one of its longest running campaigns, Global Citizen has campaigned to bring about the end of polio by raising public awareness and campaigning towards government funding of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. To learn more: https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/