LONDON: Co-Chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) Bill Gates has said that success in the fight to eradicate polio is not guaranteed.
The philanthropist, whose foundation has poured billions into the effort, warned against complacency in tackling the deadly viral disease as he welcomed Saudi Arabia’s pledge of $500 million on Sunday to fight polio over the next five years, aligning it with USA. one of the largest national sponsors.
However, there is still a funding gap of $1.2 billion in the $4.8 billion budget for the Global Pyelitis Eradication Initiative (GPEI) until 2026, a spokesperson said. The new money from the kingdom will go some way towards closing this.
Riyadh has been supporting polio eradication for more than 20 years, but the significant increase in funding comes amid a “challenging” situation, said Abdullah Al Moallem, director of health at the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre, the kingdom’s aid arm.
Cases of polio, a viral disease that paralyzed thousands of children each year, have fallen by more than 99% since 1988 thanks to mass vaccination campaigns.
“It’s not guaranteed that we’ll succeed,” Gates said Reuters in an online call last week. “I feel very strongly that we can succeed, but it was difficult.”
The support of powerful Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia would help, he added, especially in countering some misgivings about vaccination.
The foundation said it would open a regional office in Riyadh to support polio and other regional programs.
It has $4 million for humanitarian aid in Gaza, to be distributed through UNICEF, he said. The King Salman Center for Humanitarian Aid and Relief will also provide $4 million, it said.
The first missed polio eradication goal was in 2000, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest donor trying to make that goal a reality.
“If we’re still here 10 years from now, people might be urging me to quit,” Gates said. “But I don’t think we will be. If things go well, we will finish in three years,” he said.
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