News Category: Financing and donors

LISBON, Portugal – On 25 June, Rotary International and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced an extension of their existing fundraising partnership that could generate up to US$525 million in new money for polio eradication as the global effort to end this crippling disease enters its critical endgame phase.

Under the new agreement, announced before an audience of more than 20,000 Rotary members from 160 countries gathered in Lisbon for the humanitarian group’s annual convention, the Gates Foundation will match 2 for 1 every new dollar Rotary commits to polio eradication up to $35 million per year through 2018.

All funds raised will support crucial immunization activities in polio-affected countries. These are part of a comprehensive six-year plan to eradicate both wild poliovirus and vaccine-derived virus announced in April by the eradication initiative during the Global Vaccine Summit in Abu Dhabi. At the Summit, global leaders and individual philanthropists signaled their confidence in the endgame plan by pledging $4 billion, nearly three-quarters of the plan’s projected $5.5 billion cost. They also called upon additional donors to commit the additional $1.5 billion needed to ensure eradication. Since then, the government of Australia, and now Rotary, are committing funding toward the remaining $1.5 billion gap through 2018.

More

Related

Rotary recognized today the longstanding support and continued leadership of the German government in support of polio eradication by presenting the Polio Eradication Champion Award to Dirk Niebel, Minister for Economic Development Cooperation.

Germany is a longtime supporter of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) with contributions totalling US$ 417 million through 2012. Germany announced a new commitment of € 100 million at an April 2013 Vaccine Summit in Abu Dhabi . An additional € 5 million in support was announced to support improved security in the remaining polio affected countries in light of recent violent and deadly attacks on health workers.

“Polio is a scourge of mankind. Today we have a unique opportunity to eradicate this devastating disease. We have a responsibility to defeat polio so that future generations will only know about this disease from text books. Rotary has been successfully focused on this task for decades. The achievements so far have been overwhelming. And this is precisely why we must now also go the very last step. I am convinced that polio eradication will be achieved if everyone is on board – the States, civil society and the economy,” said Niebel.

German Rotary International Board Member Holger Knaack, who presented the award remarked, “The successful fight against polio would not be possible without the participation of governments. Rotary International would like to thank the Ministry for Economic cooperation and development aid for the long-term exemplary commitment.”

Related

The government’s announcement was made during a whirlwind visit by Microsoft billionaire and philanthropist, Bill Gates, on 28 May. Addressing a room full of journalists and politicians at a function hosted by the National Press Club in Canberra, Mr Gates said, “Finishing polio really is worth it. It’ll improve these health systems and save so much money.”

Australia’s renewed funding will go towards the Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan 2013-2018, which was shared with world leaders at the Global Vaccine Summit in Abu Dhabi late last month and was recently endorsed by the World Health Assembly. The plan has so far received overwhelming support, with governments and private philanthropists making substantial pledges, including Mr Gates – who announced that his foundation would be chipping in US$1.8 billion to end this disease.

The Global Poverty Project’s The End of Polio campaign has been working with partner organizations to raise awareness and lobby the Australian Government for further support for polio eradication – including partnering with UNICEF to run an event at Australia’s Parliament House earlier this year. The campaign has been working alongside Rotarians and others to convince the government that eradicating polio isn’t just the right thing to do, but what the Australian public wants them to do.

“Our supporters have been incredible,” said Michael Sheldrick, the 25-year-old Australian who runs The End of Polio campaign internationally. “They’ve signed petitions, tweeted, called, emailed and visited their political representatives in person to convince them that polio eradication is an issue worth caring about. In the week leading up to this announcement, they sent more than 150 letters to Foreign Minister Bob Carr’s office, calling on him to commit additional funding.

More than US$4 billion has been pledged so far towards the new plan’s US$5.5 billion total budget. While this is a substantial commitment, a funding gap of around US$1.5 billion remains. The full funding, up front, of the new strategic plan will be critical if this disease is to finally be eradicated.

Related

The Korean Foundation for International Healthcare (KOFIH), a specialized organization under the South Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare, has officially joined the fight against polio. In its first grant to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, the Foundation has provided US$1 million towards surveillance activities in Africa, specifically in Nigeria. This grant was made possible by the Community Chest of Korea.

Established in 2006 to promote international cooperation, KOFIH plays a key role in providing development assistance for health within Korea, by supporting projects for a disease-free world through focusing on child health and health systems strengthening.

Surveillance for cases of Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) is the core strategy employed by the GPEI to detect the transmission of wild polio viruses and vaccine-derived polio viruses, guide the supplementary immunization activities, and facilitate the eventual certification of wild poliovirus eradication. As eradication efforts continue to be implemented within the context of the ‘emergency’ in the remaining infected areas, it is critical to protect the gains achieved elsewhere, in particular in areas at high risk for re-infection. A key strategy is to ensure strong surveillance for AFP in order to rapidly detect an eventual importation or re-emergence of polio in polio-free areas. Rapid detection enables a rapid response, and hence the consequences of a re-infection can be minimized.

During the World Health Assembly, Dr Bruce Aylward, Assistant Director-General, met with the President of KOFIH, Lee Soo-ku, to thank the Foundation for joining the Initiative and providing critical financial support for an area of work that “lets the world know whether we are on track or not”.
(c) WHO/A. Balachandran

Related

April 25, 2013 – Today, at the Global Vaccine Summit, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) presented a comprehensive six-year plan, the first plan to eradicate all types of polio disease – both wild poliovirus and vaccine-derived cases – simultaneously. Global leaders and individual philanthropists signaled their confidence in the plan by pledging three-quarters of the plan’s projected US$ 5.5 billion cost over six years. They also called upon additional donors to commit up front the additional US$1.5 billion needed to ensure eradication.

The new plan capitalizes on the best opportunity to eradicate polio, with the number of children paralyzed by this disease at their lowest level ever (223 in 2012,and 19 so far this year). The urgency is linked to the tremendous advances made in 2012 and the narrow window of opportunity to seize on that progress and stop all poliovirus transmission before polio-free countries become re-infected.

“After millennia battling polio, this plan puts us within sight of the endgame. We have new knowledge about the polioviruses, new technologies and new tactics to reach the most vulnerable communities. The extensive experience, infrastructure and knowledge gained from ending polio can help us reach all children and all communities with essential health services,” said World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan.

Press release in English ¦ Arabic

Related

15 March 2013- Both sides of politics came together in Canberra, Australia, on Tuesday 12 March to declare their support for ending polio.

The Global Citizen Gathering, co-hosted by UNICEF and the Global Poverty Project, was held on the lawns of Parliament House to catalyse support for polio eradication among Australian political leaders in the lead-up to the Global Vaccine Summit to be held in Abu Dhabi this April.

Both the Foreign Minister, Senator the Hon Bob Carr and the Deputy Opposition Leader, the Hon Julie Bishop MP, spoke of their commitment to ending this disease.

“Australia commends the initiative of Bill Gates, the UN Secretary General and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi in convening in convening a Global Vaccine Summit in April in Abu Dhabi. The Summit will include the launch of an Endgame Strategy to eradicate polio by 2018. Australia is proud to be a partner in this final push to polio eradication,” said Senator Carr.

In a statement read out at the event, Bill Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, applauded Australia’s commitment to polio eradication. Meanwhile the Young Australian of the Year, Akram Azimi, took the opportunity to share the story of how Australian foreign aid dollars had changed his life:

“I am walking and breathing freely today because Australian tax payers contributed funds to vaccinate children – like me – in war-torn Afghanistan against polio. These Australian tax payers chose not to leave my health to blind chance—and for this, I could not be more grateful.”

Other speakers at the event included Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Malik Abdullah, Dr Julie Hall, Polio Programme Lead at UNICEF, and Samah Hadid, the Australian Director of the Global Poverty Project.

On the same day in New Zealand, the Global Poverty Project’s The End of Polio campaign gave a presentation to Members of Parliament, Rotarians and others; highlighting the progress achieved in the battle to end this disease.

And while The End of Polio campaign was focused on Canberra and Wellington, Bill Gates, Rotary International and the UN Foundation’s Shot at Life campaign were taking on Washington DC. The group came together on 14 March for a rally on the steps of Capitol Hill before a lunch briefing was held for Congressional staff members. Discussion focused on the importance of continued US support for the worldwide campaign to eradicate polio.

With the Global Vaccine Summit and the launch of the new polio eradication strategic plan just around the corner, members of the global movement to end polio are pulling out all the stops to build support among donor governments. Without sufficient funding for the new plan, the world could miss the opportunity to end the scourge of polio once and for all.

As Dr Hall said at the Global Citizen Gathering last Tuesday, “we are, as Rotary says, this close to finishing the job. This close to creating a polio free world and this close to finding a path to the missed children – missed for polio and missed for many other essential services too.”

---

Related

New York, (February 28, 2013) – In a major new commitment, business publishing magnate and New York City mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today announced a $100 million donation to support polio eradication efforts through Bloomberg Philanthropies. The donation will help fund the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s six-year plan to eradicate polio.

“It’s unthinkable that polio still exists in the world when we have the tools and technology to protect children from this preventable, debilitating disease. Now is the time to invest in making polio history. Doing so will protect future generations of children and pave the way for other life-saving interventions to reach the world’s most vulnerable populations,” said Bloomberg.

Bloomberg joins key private donors to polio eradication, including the founder of CNN and the UN Foundation Ted Turner, Nigerian industrialist Aliko Dangote and Indian philanthropist Rajshree Birla.

The number of polio cases plunged to the lowest level ever in 2012 – less than 225 cases – and the number of countries where polio transmission has never been stopped was reduced to three – Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. India, long-regarded as the nation facing the greatest challenges to ending polio, was declared polio-free in February 2012. In response, the World Health Assembly declared ending polio a “programmatic emergency” for global public health and the Presidents of Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan are overseeing the implementation of emergency action plans in their countries. These plans have led to significant advancements in the efforts to reach hard-to-access children with the polio vaccine.

Related

…So when the Gates Foundation challenged Rotary International to raise US$200 million, they set to work with gusto.

Back in 2007, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation issued Rotary International a challenge – raise US$ 100 million for polio eradication in the next three years, and the Foundation would chip in an extra US$ 100 million.

What the Gates Foundation probably did not expect was the enthusiasm with which this challenge was met. Within 12 months Rotary International’s global network of volunteers had already raised US$ 60 million.

So the Gates Foundation upped the ante; challenging Rotary to double their contribution by end-June 2012 in return for a US$ 355 million contribution from the Foundation. And wouldn’t you know it, Rotarians are already 93% of the way there – raising US$ 185 million with 10 months to spare.

For more on how Rotarians around the world are working in innovative ways to meet the $US 200 million challenge, read Rotary International’s story.