13 October 2025 – The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) today released its 2026 Action Plan—a comprehensive roadmap to streamline operations and sustain momentum toward a polio-free world in light of a 30% budget reduction next year.
Since the GPEI was formed in 1988, global efforts have reduced the number of children paralyzed by polio by 99%. Now, with rising conflict, economic strain, and humanitarian crises in the final phase of eradication, efficiency and coordination across all stakeholders is more critical than ever to maximize resources and end polio everywhere for good.
The 2026 Action Plan, developed through extensive consultation and grounded in the latest data, sets out how GPEI will focus activities where they will have the greatest impact, making deliberate, sometimes challenging choices to minimize risk, safeguard hard-won gains, and maintain progress toward a polio-free world. The GPEI will:
- Target investments to the highest risk areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan, the last remaining strongholds of wild poliovirus, and outbreak zones in Southern and Central Africa, the Horn of Africa, and Lake Chad Basin.
- Expand new vaccination strategies, including delivery of the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) in between campaign rounds and fractional dose inactivated polio vaccine (fIPV) during campaigns to close immunity gaps in the hardest to reach places.
- More systematically integrate with health partners, such as measles and nutrition services, to reach the most vulnerable children and strengthen routine immunization.
- Enhance national surveillance and lab capacities to ensure rapid detection and response to outbreaks, even as budgets tighten.
The Action Plan also addresses the risks posed by reduced funding, with measures to:
- Maintain intensive nationwide vaccination campaigns and surveillance in endemic countries.
- Streamline operations and workforce structures for efficient outbreak response and oversight.
- Enhance operational and financial accountability by anchoring strategic planning and monitoring in regularly reviewed, localized subnational plans.
We cannot do this alone. Even with more efficient operations planned for 2026, a US$1.7 billion funding gap remains for the GPEI’s 2022-2029 Strategy. Full political and financial support is urgently needed from donors, governments, and partners to help close this gap, reinforce global health security and ensure no child is left behind.
Polio eradication remains one of the best investments in global health. The infrastructure built by the GPEI supports broader disease surveillance, emergency response, and resilient health systems. Completing eradication will unlock billions in economic benefits and protect children from this preventable disease for generations to come.
