Posted on Dec 22, 2022
Rotary and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have renewed their longstanding partnership to end polio. The renewal agreement includes a joint commitment of up to $450 million to support the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
 
"We’ve made tremendous progress, but the world is facing multiple pandemics, and vaccine hesitancy is on the rise," says Ian Riseley, trustee chair of The Rotary Foundation. "Partnering with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation helps us ensure that children in polio-affected countries get the lifesaving vaccines they need."
 
For over 20 years, the non-profit Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been fighting poverty, disease, and the greatest inequities in our world.
Rotary is committed to raising $50 million per year over three years, with every dollar to be matched with two additional dollars from the Gates Foundation. The joint commitment was announced in October in conjunction with the World Health Summit in Berlin, at which global leaders collectively pledged $2.6 billion in funding toward the GPEI’s 2022-26 strategy. 
 
"Eradicating polio requires the dedication and generosity of nations and individuals around the world, and Rotarians are again leading the way," says Melinda French Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation. "Rotary International and Rotarians continue to be the heart of GPEI — and have been since the beginning. Together, we are moving closer to our shared goal of ending polio and ensuring that families will never have to fear this disease again."
 
"As the first organization to envision a polio-free world, Rotary is more committed than ever to delivering on our promise that one day, no child will ever again be paralyzed by polio," says Rotary President Jennifer Jones. "Our partnership with the Gates Foundation helps us eliminate any impediment to conquer polio now."
 
The GPEI was formed in 1988 by Rotary, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Gates Foundation and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, joined later. Since the initiative started, the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99.9 percent.