Global leaders have pledged US $1.9 billion to accelerate efforts to eradicate polio and protect 370 million children annually, even as the budget for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) faces a 30 percent cut in 2026.
The funding boost comes amidst a larger $1.7 billion shortfall through 2029 for the polio‑eradication partnership, which includes the World Health Organization and other global health donors.
The new pledges — including roughly $1.2 billion from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and $450 million from Rotary International — reduce the remaining funding gap for GPEI’s 2022–2029 strategy to around $440 million.
At a high-level donor event held in Abu Dhabi under the aegis of the Mohamed bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity, health‑system leaders and philanthropists reaffirmed their commitment to sustaining vaccination, surveillance, and outbreak‑response efforts — especially in regions where polio remains endemic or where vaccine‑derived outbreaks pose a threat.
The renewed funding is expected to play an instrumental role in helping the Global Polio Eradication Initiative to reach all children in the remaining polio‑endemic countries and curb variant polio outbreaks worldwide.
