KSA pledges $500 million to protect the world’s children from polio

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has committed $500 million over the next five years to support the work of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).

The pledge was made during the first-ever special meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) held in Riyadh on Sunday.

This announcement marks a significant increase in funding for the global effort to eradicate polio – a devastating virus that paralyzes children and can be fatal, but is preventable with vaccines.

The funds announced today will enable GPEI partners – the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Rotary International, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the US.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) – led by national governments, to protect more than 370 million children each year with polio vaccines.

It will also facilitate the delivery of other life-saving interventions such as nutritional supplements and mosquito nets to underserved communities and strengthen healthcare systems to better prepare countries for emerging health threats.

The commitment was made as part of a broader $620 million partnership between Saudi Arabia and BMGF to support polio eradication and contribute to other global health initiatives, including the Lives and Livelihood Fund.

The partnership was announced at the WEF special meeting by His Excellency Dr. Abdullah Al Rabeeah, Advisor to the Royal Court and Supervisor General of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid & Relief Center (KSrelief) and His Excellency Fahad bin Abdurrahman Al-Jaljel, Minister of Foreign Affairs. Health of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in the presence of Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of WHO, and Bill Gates, Co-Chair of BMGF.

Dr. Abdullah Al Rabeeah noted: “In Afghanistan and Pakistan, the last remaining polio-endemic countries, we have seen significant progress, but there is still work to be done as the world works to achieve eradication.

Saudi Arabia’s pledge today will strengthen the innovation and collaboration needed to eradicate this disease. Together with our partners, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, the Islamic Development Bank and key countries in the region, our support will focus not only on ending polio, but also on strengthening healthcare systems in these countries.”

“This investment in global health is not just a nice to have; it is a strategic imperative for a prosperous, more resilient future together,” said Fahad bin Abdurrahman Al-Jaljel. It is our responsibility and leadership to contribute together with our partners to bridging the gap, and through joint efforts we will be able to alleviate the suffering of many people.”

Thanks to decades of country leadership and global cooperation in delivering life-saving vaccines to billions of children, cases of wild polio have fallen by 99.9 percent since the GPEI was established in 1988 under the leadership of the World Health Assembly.

There are more than 20 million people walking today who would otherwise have been paralyzed by the virus. Only four cases of wild poliovirus have been recorded this year and twelve cases last year in the remaining wild poliovirus endemic countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, outbreaks of variant poliovirus, which can arise in places where not enough children have been vaccinated against polio, are increasingly confined to high-risk areas in just four countries: Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and Yemen.

Yet in places where polio remains prevalent today, there are serious challenges in reaching all children with polio vaccines and other life-saving interventions, including vaccine misinformation, political uncertainty, environmental disasters, and broader humanitarian crises.

“For decades, polio has inflicted lifelong suffering on children and families. Today we take another step toward its final eradication, thanks to the generous contributions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. When we invest in polio eradication, we improve immunization and health care systems. resilient, we equip countries to better respond to public health challenges, and most importantly, we enable more children to live healthy lives,” said Bill Gates.

The announcement builds on a long history of support from Saudi Arabia and regional partners to the global effort to eradicate polio, as well as across the Eastern Mediterranean – the last region where wild polio is endemic.

For more than two decades, Saudi Arabia has not only financially supported the GPEI but also advocated for polio eradication and access to other life-saving vaccines in the Eastern Mediterranean and beyond.

This support ranges from championing the cause among communities and religious leaders to advocating within major global gatherings such as the G20 and regional forums such as the World Health Organization Regional Subcommittee on Polio Eradication and Eradication in the Eastern Mediterranean.

“Reaching all children with lifesaving vaccines is critical to ending polio and protecting children and communities around the world from other preventable diseases and emerging health threats,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“With this new funding, Saudi Arabia will help protect children, even in the hardest-to-reach areas, and move toward a healthier, polio-free world.”

“This important support will bring us one step closer to eradicating polio once and for all,” said Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director.

“Together with communities, health workers, global partners and donors like Saudi Arabia, we can ensure that no child is paralyzed or dies from polio, and that more children have access to better healthcare systems.”

To strengthen Afghanistan’s health care systems and encourage a continued focus on polio eradication in one of the world’s last polio-endemic countries, Saudi Arabia and the Gates Foundation have committed $3 million and $15 million, respectively, over a period of three years in support of the Polio Legacy Challenge.

This Challenge is a results-based funding initiative led by Health Ministers in the region, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar, under the auspices of the WHO EMRO Regional Subcommittee on Polio Eradication and Outbreaks.

Also today, as the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) celebrates its 50th anniversary, Saudi Arabia announced $100 million in new financing to support the IsDB’s Lives and Livelihoods Fund (LLF), which aims to lift the poorest out of poverty to be achieved among the 33 IsDB member states. countries through investments in the primary sector

healthcare, eliminating preventable infectious diseases such as polio, supporting small-scale and rural agriculture, and improving basic infrastructure.

This follows the UAE’s renewed commitment of $50 million to the LLF announced earlier this week, continuing its support for the region’s largest development fund, which helps millions of people in low-income communities.

Speaking on the occasion, IsDB President Dr. Muhammad Al Jasser: “The Islamic Development Bank warmly welcomes the generous contribution of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. This vital support strengthens GPEI’s efforts to eliminate this devastating disease. We are proud that IsDB and ISFD, our anti-poverty arm, are among the leading funders of Pakistan’s polio eradication efforts, raising more than $555 million since 2012.”

“We also welcome the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s new funding for the Lives and Livelihoods Fund. This innovative initiative tackles the poverty barriers that families, communities and entire countries face. We express our sincere thanks to all partners, existing and new, for their continued cooperation and commitment. Together, through these joint efforts, we can achieve the crucial last-mile results needed to create a truly polio-free world,” said the IsDB President.