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Abu Dhabi Summit Secures $1.9 Billion for Final Push to Eradicate Polio

The commitments trim GPEI’s 2022–2029 shortfall to roughly $440 million, with resources prioritized for vaccination, surveillance, frontline delivery in the highest‑risk areas.

Overview

  • The largest pledge came from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation at about $1.2 billion, joined by Rotary International ($450 million) and contributions from the Mohamed bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Pakistan, Germany, the United States, Japan, Luxembourg and others.
  • GPEI still projects heavy fiscal pressure with a 30% budget cut expected in 2026 after wider donor retrenchment, leaving a remaining gap of roughly $440 million for its 2022–2029 strategy.
  • The funding drive targets protection for about 370 million children each year while reinforcing health systems that deliver vaccines and disease surveillance in fragile settings.
  • Pakistan pledged $154 million and outlined intensified door‑to‑door immunisation, stronger surveillance and emergency response in high‑risk areas such as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Karachi.
  • Wild poliovirus remains endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan, while variant outbreaks persist in multiple countries, prompting investments in frontline vaccinators, cold‑chain capacity and cross‑border monitoring.