Rotarians,
Please see below for information regarding recent updates benefitting the polio eradication efforts. This is terrific news! Please feel free to share!
This morning, financial commitments totaling approximately US$4
billion over six years toward the US$5.5 billion endgame strategy of
the Global Polio Eradication Initiative were announced during the Global
Vaccine Summit in Abu Dhabi.
Of note are new contributions from new donors, totaling $355
million:
·
Albert L. Ueltschi Foundation
·
Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation-Global
·
Bloomberg Philanthropies
·
Carlos Slim Foundation
·
Dalio Foundation
·
The Foundation for a Greater
Opportunity established by Carl C. Icahn
·
The Tahir Foundation
The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi also announced a second pledge to
polio eradication of US$120 million, adding to his first contribution made in
2011. A range of other donors, including the Islamic Development Bank, Ireland
and Japan, helped round out the additional new pledges.
Rotary was represented at the meeting
by India National PolioPlus Chair Deepak Kapur, International PolioPlus
Committee Chair Bob Scott, PolioPlus Director Carol Pandak, and the entire
2-day event was emceed by Rotary polio ambassador, actress Archie Panjabi.
The chart with the contribution breakdown is attached, and the final
press release follows below. A story highlighting the good news from the
Vaccine Summit will soon be posted on the RI and End Polio Now websites and
this news will also be promoted via Rotary’s social media channels. Please let
us know if you would like this information in French, Portuguese, Spanish,
Korean or Japan. Translations will be forthcoming as soon as they are
completed.
Best regards,
Carol Pandak
Director, PolioPlus
~~~~~~
GPEI press release:
Global Leaders Support
New Six-Year Plan to Deliver a Polio-Free World by 2018
·
Pledges announced will
enable over a billion children to be vaccinated
·
Global eradication
program will move simultaneously on multiple fronts expanding focus to improve
childhood immunization and protect gains made to date
·
New commitments by
governments and philanthropists boost effort to meet plan’s budget goal
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates ¦ 25 April 2013
– Today, at the Global Vaccine
Summit, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) presented a comprehensive six-year plan, the first plan to
eradicate all types of polio disease – both wild poliovirus and vaccine-derived
cases – simultaneously. Global leaders and individual philanthropists signaled
their confidence in the plan by pledging close to three-quarters of the plan’s
projected US$5.5 billion cost over six years. They also called upon additional
donors to commit up front the additional US$1.5 billion needed to ensure
eradication.
The new plan capitalizes on the best opportunity
to eradicate polio, with the number of children paralyzed by this disease at
the lowest level ever: just 223 cases in 2012 and only 19 so far this year. The
urgency is linked to the tremendous advances made in 2012 and the narrow window
of opportunity to seize on that progress and stop all poliovirus transmission
before polio-free countries become re-infected.
“After millennia
battling polio, this plan puts us within sight of the endgame. We have new
knowledge about the polioviruses, new technologies and new tactics to reach the
most vulnerable communities. The extensive experience, infrastructure and
knowledge gained from ending polio can help us reach all children and all
communities with essential health services,” said World Health Organization
Director-General Margaret Chan.
A new plan to end polio, strengthen immunization systems and plan
for transition
The Polio Eradication & Endgame Strategic Plan 2013-2018
was developed by the GPEI in extensive consultation with a broad range of
stakeholders. The plan incorporates the lessons learned from India’s success
becoming polio-free in early 2012 and cutting-edge knowledge about the risk of
circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses. It also complements the tailored
Emergency Action Plans being implemented since last year in the remaining
polio-endemic countries – Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria – including
approaches in place to vaccinate children in insecure areas.
At the Summit,
held today in Abu Dhabi, global leaders announced their confidence in the
plan’s ability to achieve a lasting polio-free world by 2018 and pledged their
financial and political support for its implementation.
“Ending polio will not
only be an historic feat for humanity, but also a huge part of our efforts to
reach every hard-to-reach child with a range of life-saving vaccines,” said
UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake.
The plan addresses the
operational challenges of vaccinating children, including in densely populated
urban areas, hard-to-reach areas and areas of insecurity. The plan includes the
use of polio eradication experience and resources to strengthen immunization
systems in high-priority countries. It also lays out a process for planning how
to transition the GPEI’s resources and lessons, particularly in reaching the most
marginalized and vulnerable children and communities, so that they continue to
be of service to other public health efforts. It is estimated that the GPEI’s
efforts to eradicate polio could deliver total net benefits of US$40-50 billion
by 2035 from reduced treatment costs and gains in productivity.
Earlier this month, in a
Scientific
Declaration on Polio Eradication, more than 400 scientists and
global health experts from around the world endorsed the GPEI plan, and
reaffirmed the conviction that a polio-free world can be secured by 2018.
Philanthropists endorse
value of investing in the end of polio
In remarks made at the
Summit, Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
underscored the numerous benefits of ending polio and the need to provide
health and development interventions to the hardest-to-reach children. He also
called on additional donors to come forward with long-term commitments to fully
fund the GPEI plan.
“This plan isn’t just a
polio eradication plan, it’s a global immunization plan with the goal of ending
polio while improving efforts to protect all children, including the most
vulnerable, with life-saving vaccines,” said Gates. “Successful
implementation of the plan requires a significant but time-limited investment
that will deliver a polio-free world and pay dividends for future generations.”
Gates announced that his
foundation would commit one-third of the total cost of the GPEI’s budget
over the plan’s six-year implementation, for a total of $1.8 billion. The funds
will be allocated with the goal of enabling the GPEI to operate effectively
against all of the plan's objectives. To encourage other donors to commit the
remaining funding up front, the Gates funding for 2016-2018 will be released
when the GPEI secures funding that ensures the foundation’s contribution does
not exceed one-third of the total budget for those years.
Joining Gates was a new
group of individual philanthropists that announced its support for full
implementation of the new plan. The total new pledges from philanthropists to
the polio initiative amounted to an additional US$335 million toward the plan’s
six-year budget. The donors commended the tremendous progress toward
eradication made in the last year and expressed their desire to help change
history and end polio while the opportunity still exists. Philanthropies making
commitments include:
Albert L. Ueltschi
Foundation
Alwaleed Bin Talal
Foundation-Global
Bloomberg Philanthropies
Carlos Slim Foundation
Dalio Foundation
The Foundation for a
Greater Opportunity established by Carl C. Icahn
The Tahir Foundation
A fully funded plan and sustained
political commitment will protect gains made to date and enable the GPEI to
execute against short- and long-term objectives
At the Summit, leaders
from polio-endemic countries reaffirmed their continued focus on polio
eradication and welcomed the plan’s broadened scope to improve immunization
systems.
Praising the plan’s
expanded focus to ensure that polio eradication efforts – which reach the
world’s most vulnerable children – support broader health interventions,
long-time donors Canada, Germany, Norway and the UK, as well as Nigeria,
announced new commitments to support the plan’s long-term objectives. His
Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and
Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, announced a second pledge to
polio eradication of US$120 million, adding to his first contribution made in
2011. A range of other donors, including the Islamic Development Bank, Ireland
and Japan, helped round out the additional pledges.
Rotary International, the
flagship donor to the GPEI, pledged its commitment through 2018 to raise funds
and mobilize support of the endgame strategy. “To stop polio once and for all,
we need to act quickly so that children are fully protected and countries are
not re-infected,” said Rotary International President Sakuji Tanaka. “This
takes the commitment of national and local leaders where polio still exists,
the continued support of donor countries, and the steadfast commitment of
heroic vaccinators.”
The GPEI will work with
donors on the timely conversion of these pledges into commitments and the
disbursement of funds so that the program can fully deliver on the plan.
The plan’s US$5.5
billion budget over six years requires sustaining current yearly spending to
eradicate polio. The new plan’s budget includes the costs of reaching and
vaccinating more than 250 million children multiple times every year,
monitoring and surveillance in more than 70 countries, and securing the
infrastructure that can benefit other health and development programs.
“Today we have the
fewest cases in the fewest places ever, making it critical to use the best
opportunity the world has ever had to put an end to this terrible, preventable
disease,” said Anne Schuchat, M.D., head of the Center for Global Health
at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Notes for editors:
The plan was created by
the GPEI in extensive consultation with national health authorities, global
health initiatives, scientific experts, donors and other stakeholders. There
are four main objectives of the plan: 1) Poliovirus Detection and Interruption;
2) Immunization Systems Strengthening and Oral Polio Vaccine Withdrawal; 3)
Containment and Certification; and 4) Legacy Planning.
Circulating
vaccine-derived poliovirus: On very rare occasions, the live, weakened
poliovirus contained in the oral polio vaccine may genetically alter in the
immunized person’s gut. If a population is seriously under-immunized, the virus
may begin circulating in the community, and is referred to as a circulating
vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV). Between 2000 and 2011 – a period in which
more than 10 billion doses of oral polio vaccine were given worldwide – cVDPV
outbreaks resulted in 580 polio cases. In the same period, wild poliovirus paralyzed
more than 15,500 children. As wild poliovirus declines, however, the proportion
of cVDPV in low-immunity communities rises. The new plan uses cutting-edge
knowledge about these viruses and new tactics to raise immunity, including
introduction of inactivated polio vaccine and phasing out use of the component
of the oral polio vaccine which gives rise to the majority of cVDPV. If a
population is fully immunized against polio, it will be protected against the
spread of both wild and vaccine strains of poliovirus.
Additional resources:
About GPEI
The Global Polio
Eradication Initiative (GPEI), launched in 1988, is spearheaded by national
governments, the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the US
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and UNICEF, and supported by
key partners including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Since its launch, the incidence of polio has been reduced by more than 99
percent. In 1988, more than 350,000 children were paralyzed each year in more
than 125 endemic countries. Today, only three countries remain endemic:
Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Last year, cases of wild poliovirus
plunged from 650 in 2011 to 223, the largest drop in a decade. As of 17 April,
19 cases have been reported, a 60% reduction compared to this time last
year.
==================================================================
As printed in the Seattle Times
Polio endgame? Bill Gates enlists Islamic nations in final push for eradication
At a summit in Abu Dhabi, Bill Gates and other leaders push for $5.5 billion to wipe out polio by 2018.
Seattle Times science reporter
Stamping out polio has proved harder than anyone imagined, with the latest blow coming in the form of deadly attacks on health workers delivering vaccine in Pakistan and Nigeria.
But despite the recent setbacks, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates will join with other leaders this week to argue that the crippling disease can be eradicated by 2018, thanks to a
new strategy and unprecedented political support in the handful of countries where polio persists.
It won’t be cheap, though. A new estimate puts the total price tag for the six-year push at $5.5 billion, about half of which still must be raised. That’s one of the main goals of a
summit that starts Wednesday in the Persian Gulf state of Abu Dhabi, where the focus will be on increased funding from Muslim nations in addition to traditional, Western donors.
“Islamic leadership ... is a critical part of this final stage of polio eradication,” said Dr. Chris Elias, president of global development for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Islam is the dominant religion in Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of Nigeria, the three nations where polio remains endemic.
Once common around the world, including in the United States, the sewage-borne virus was eliminated in wealthy countries after the development of a vaccine. When the first global eradication effort was launched in 1988, about 350,000 children a year were paralyzed by polio. In 2012, there were only 223 cases worldwide.
But the disease has clung stubbornly in a few corners of the globe, occasionally flaring up and spreading to other areas. “Until the polio virus is completely eradicated everywhere, no country is safe from reinfection,” Gates wrote this month in the
Cairo Review of Global Affairs.
Three previous target dates for eradication — 2000, 2005 and 2012 — have come and gone without success.
But advocates say things are different this time, pointing to new tools and to India’s surprising success in wiping out the disease in 2011.
“Five years ago, most people thought India would be the last place with polio,” Elias said.
The Indian government mustered more than 2 million workers for the polio fight and pioneered approaches now being applied in other countries.
In Nigeria, health agencies are deploying smaller vaccination teams armed with high-tech maps and GPS-equipped cellphones that allow them to cover more homes in less time — meaning fewer households are missed.
In Afghanistan, permanent polio teams are replacing the large-scale campaigns that are easy targets for opposition and violence. When the teams are allowed to work in dangerous areas, they take advantage of the window by dosing children on an accelerated schedule.
As part of enhanced surveillance systems, sewage in vulnerable areas is regularly checked for polio virus. When the bug turned up in Cairo’s sewage recently, the source was quickly traced to construction workers from Pakistan, who were then targeted for vaccination, said Apoorva Mallya, senior program officer for the Gates Foundation’s polio programs.
Every diagnosed case of polio is genetically analyzed to identify where the virus originated, and to determine its type. One of the three major types of polio virus was eradicated more than a decade ago. A second strain appears poised to disappear soon, with only one known case in the past six months.
“If what we’re seeing now is a reduction in the genetic diversity of the virus, that’s another indicator of progress,” Mallya said.
For the first time, the new eradication plan also includes a road map for phasing out the oral polio vaccine, which contains weakened, live viruses that in rare cases can actually cause the disease. It will be replaced by an injectable vaccine that’s more expensive, but contains killed virus with no risk of infection.
Some health experts remain skeptical that the 2018 target will be reached, or that it’s worth such a huge investment to eradicate a disease that afflicts so few people.
An independent panel that evaluates the polio program cautioned recently that “success is far from assured,” and pointed out that several countries are already scaling back their vaccination programs.
Dr. Howard Frumkin, dean of the University of Washington’s School of Public Health, is concerned that the focus on polio will divert money from other health priorities. But he still joined more than 400 leading scientists from around the world in signing onto a
declaration of support for the eradication program.
“I think we’re at the 1-yard line now, and we’ve never been there before,” Frumkin said. “I think we need to stick with it.”
What seems like an enormous investment will pay off manyfold in reduced incidence of disease and the ability to phase out costly vaccination programs once polio is no longer a threat, Frumkin said.
Polio would be only the second disease erased from the earth, after smallpox. “If we succeed in eradicating polio, we will prove that setting big goals leads to big victories,” Gates wrote Tuesday in a
Globe and Mail op-ed with Canada’s Minister of International Co-operation.
Gates has declared polio eradication his top priority. Over the past few years, the Gates Foundation has spent about $300 million annually on the effort and expects to continue that general level of support, Mallya said. That would pencil out to another $1.8 billion over the course of the six-year eradication program.
Gates and other program coordinators, including UNICEF and the World Health Organization, recently began reaching out to wealthy Arab nations for help bankrolling the effort.
The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi committed $50 million in 2011 to help vaccinate 35 million children in Afghanistan and Pakistan against polio, and is expected to announce new funding this week. The Islamic Development Bank made its first donation to polio programs last year, with a $227 million financing package for Pakistan.
Sandi Doughton: 206-464-2491 or sdoughton@seattletimes.com
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