Abu Dhabi Crown Prince contributes to vaccines for Pakistan and Afghanistan

The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi joins the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to purchase and deliver polio vaccines for Afghan and Pakistani children and protect them from paralysis.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Bill Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, announced today they are working together to provide life-saving vaccinations to children in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The partnership commits a total of US$100 million – US$50 million from each partner – for the purchase and delivery of vital vaccines that will save Afghan and Pakistani children and prevent disease for a lifetime.

Of the total funds, two-thirds will be given to the GAVI Alliance for the purchase and delivery of the pentavalent vaccine and for the introduction of the new pneumococcal vaccine in Afghanistan. The remaining US$34 million of the allocated funds will be directed to the World Health Organization and UNICEF to deliver polio vaccines in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Although worldwide polio has been reduced by 99 percent during the past 20 years, Afghanistan and Pakistan are two of only four countries where polio transmission has never been stopped. To date, there has been a cycle of re-infection of this crippling disease between the populations of the two countries.

The partnership will help polio eradication workers reach approximately 35 million children in Afghanistan and Pakistan with oral polio vaccines.

New health partnership in Middle East: Bill Gates blogs about the new cooperation.
Full press release


Related News

   21/09/2023
A success story for public health despite extreme challenges of war
   04/09/2023
Newly-appointed Pakistan leaders committed to delivering polio-free country
   07/08/2023
Since the Republic of Congo first confirmed a case of cVDPV1 in March 2023 (the first such detection in more than two decades), the country has been pioneering the deployment of Geospatial Tracking Systems (GTS) to help curb further transmission.
   25/07/2023
At the earliest signs of the ongoing conflict in Sudan, in the middle of April, WHO’s country team sprang into action. After all, conflict and infectious diseases are known to be comrades.
   21/07/2023
Says commitment to polio eradication remains commendable, interruption of wild poliovirus is possible in six months with support from communities, government, administrative and security leadership