LONDON: The UAE is to host a major donor event later this year to raise money for the eradication of polio.
The global conference run by the Mohamed bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity in Abu Dhabi will seek to build pledges of investment in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
The announcement on Friday coincides with World Polio Day to raise awareness about the disease, which 30 years ago paralyzed 1,000 children a day across 125 countries.
Since then, the GPEI led a vast international vaccination effort that almost wiped out the disease in 2023.
But the final steps to eradicate the virus have proved the most challenging, with wild polio remaining endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The GPEI is also facing substantial budget cuts after a drop in funding from international donors.
A child receives the polio vaccine in Gaza as part of the 2024 immunization campaign. (WHO)
The pledging event will take place on Dec. 8, bringing together countries, donors, philanthropists, and global health experts.
The UAE has hosted two previous events in 2013 and 2019 that raised $6.6 billion in support of the GPEI, a coalition of counties and organizations including the World Health Organization and the Gates Foundation.
The UAE’s Permanent Representative to the UN Mohamed Abushahab is to announce next month’s drive at an event co-hosted by UNICEF and the GPEI in New York on Friday.
“The forthcoming pledging moment reflects our belief in the power of collective action to eradicate polio once and for all and to contribute to a healthier, more resilient world,” he said.
Dr. Shamma Khalifa Al-Mazrouei, acting director-general of the Mohamed bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity, said: “Decades of global partnership has brought us closer than ever before to ending polio.
“With sustained funding, collaboration, and political leadership, we can achieve a polio-free future and protect children everywhere from this preventable disease.”
This week, WHO officials thanked Gulf countries for their political and financial support in tackling polio.
A child receives the polio vaccine in Gaza as part of the 2024 immunization campaign. (WHO)
Saudi Arabia reaffirmed a $500 million pledge to the GPEI through KSrelief earlier this year.
The UAE is also a major supporter of the initiative, committing more than $380 million to eradicating the disease since 2011.
After an outbreak of the vaccine-derived form of the virus in Gaza last year, the UAE funded a major immunization drive in the territory.
The event in Abu Dhabi in December will be co-hosted by the Gates Foundation and will be attended by other key GPEI partners including Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and Rotary International.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “The commitments made in Abu Dhabi will be critical to securing the resources and resolve needed to overcome the final hurdles.”
The success of polio eradication efforts meant that India was declared free of the wild form of the virus in 2014, followed by Africa in 2020.
But the vaccine-derived form of the virus continues to affect parts of Africa and is providing a further challenge to eradication efforts.
