The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will donate over a billion dollars to eradicate wild polio in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the disease is endemic, after New York reported its first vaccine-derived case in almost a decade.
The Malaria Summit was attended by Bill Gates.
The Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
According to the Gates Foundation, the organization will raise more funds at a summit on October 18.
Bill Gates said in a statement that the disease remains a threat even though significant progress has been made.
In addition to stopping the spread of the disease, the vaccine campaigns have played a key role in strengthening health systems, according to the co- founder and Bill Gates' ex- wife.
A figure of over 400 million. The Gates Foundation said on Sunday that GPEI hopes to give a vaccine to every child in the country in the next five years.
After samples of the disease were found in New York and London, officials increased calls for vaccinations. The vaccine-derived cases are thought to be related to the fact that people who get the vaccine can excrete it in their stool. The state of New York declared an emergency last month after the virus was found in a fourth county in addition to New York City. There are many New York counties that have low vaccine rates for the disease. In August, health officials in London announced a new vaccine campaign in order to increase coverage in children under 10 years old.
It is a disease that can be spread through contact with fecal samples. According to the CDC, 15,000 people in the US developed paralysis from the disease before the vaccine was developed. GPEI, which was launched in 1988 and is one of the largest public health initiatives in history, has helped eliminate the disease in many countries around the world. In Pakistan and Afghanistan, the vaccine campaigns have been hampered by political instability and conflicts. More than 75% of Afghan children ages 12 to 23 months had been fully vaccine against the disease by the year 2021, according to the United Nations. Governments in high-income countries and other nonprofits have also contributed.
Bill Gates told Forbes last month that he plans to finish the foundation he co-chairs with his wife in 25 years. He hopes to bring infectious disease, or all of the diseases that make the world inequitable, to an end during that time. In July, Gates donated $20 billion to the foundation. He said he will continue to give until he is no longer a billionaire.
According to Forbes, Gates is the fifth richest person in the world. His ex- wife is worth $6 billion.
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