EU, Bill Gates Foundation Vote €1.1bn  to Tackle Polio, Other Diseases

*New push targets 370 million children

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The European Commission, the European Investment Bank and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have pledged a new financing partnership of €1.1 billion to address critical global health challenges especially polio that puts 370 million children at risk.
The effort was meant to address critical global health opportunities, eradicate polio and ensure that innovations in health were more accessible to the people who need them most.

According to a statement issued in Brussels, Belgium on Wednesday, the new funding was to ensure 370 million children receive polio vaccinations and to boost health innovation in low-income countries
It noted that the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF, as implementing partners for the polio funding, would deploy resources to eradicate polio, support the distribution of other childhood immunisations and strengthen health systems so that they are better able to respond to emerging health threats.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, was quoted to have said: “We are about to wipe polio off the face of the Earth. The European Commission, the EIB and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are partnering to get through the final stretch.

“With one billion euros supported by our European investment strategy Global Gateway, we will invest in stronger health systems globally and local vaccine and medicines production, manufacturing and administration, where it is most needed.
“Global cooperation has helped us put an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now it will help us get rid of polio once and for all.”
The statement further read: “The expected €1.1 billion financing package aims to provide new funding to eradicate a human disease for only the second time in history and help solve the health and development challenges faced by the world’s most vulnerable people, who otherwise do not get fair access to healthcare services and innovations.”

According to the statement, the partnership would mark a significant increase in funding for global health and human development under the European Commission’s European Fund for Sustainable Development plus (EFSD+) and was expected to include a match of new complementary funding for global health by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, maximising the impact of every Euro committed by the EU and the European Investment Bank.
“Today we are united to write the final chapter in the history of polio. The European Investment Bank is playing its part in a unique partnership with philanthropy and health partners, by providing EUR 500 million for investment in support of the Global Polio Eradication Programme.

“This initiative will be a milestone in scaling up immunisation and strengthening healthcare, ensuring that every child, regardless of their circumstances, can be protected against polio,” President of the European Investment Bank,Werner Hoyer said.
He noted that in order to promote progress towards eradicating wild poliovirus, the partnership aims to deliver €500 million in payments to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative – specifically the World Health Organization and UNICEF.

The funds would cover polio vaccinations for nearly 370 million children annually; deliver vital health services to children alongside polio campaigns, including measles vaccines and other routine immunisations and strengthen health systems to better prepare and respond to emerging health threats, as the polio program has done against COVID-19, Ebola, and other diseases.

The global health body said as of today, wild poliovirus remained endemic in just two countries – Pakistan and Afghanistan while 80 percent  of variant poliovirus cases are found in just four subnational regions.
“Thanks to medical innovations, the world eradicated one human disease – smallpox. Today we’re on the verge of ending another – wild poliovirus.
“I am committed to ensuring that no child, anywhere in the world, faces this awful disease.
“I am also optimistic that we will eradicate polio once and for all and make health innovations more accessible for everyone, particularly those in the poorest countries,” Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates said.

Another €500 million aims to expand the innovation capacity of health systems in low- and middle-income countries.
This includes new funding to initiatives supported by the European Commission such as efforts to make health innovations like mRNA-based vaccines and therapeutics more accessible to people in low- and middle-income countries, under Europe’s investment plan for the world, Global Gateway. More investments in health worldwide will be discussed among global leaders and partners at the upcoming Global Gateway Forum (25-26 October)

Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda French Gates, said based on the partnership of the European Commission and European Investment Bank, vaccines, medicines and other life-saving innovations should reach the people who need them most, making communities everywhere healthier.
“We know that when a community is healthy, economies grow,” she added.
Also, WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that reaching under-vaccinated children in the most remote and hardest-to-reach areas was essential for finishing the job of polio eradication.

In the same vein, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said the new funds would not only help to drive us towards a polio-free world, but would also help to build more sustainable and resilient health systems to protect the same children and communities who are at risk of polio against the many other health threats they face.
“Polio eradication is within reach, but the progress is fragile, and we must remain laser focused.
“This new funding will help ensure that all children get vaccinated to eradicate polio, while strengthening community-based health systems. No child should suffer from an easily preventable disease.”

Specifically, the funding partnership was expected to include: €500 million in new funding for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, €500 million in investments and grants to ensure health innovations are more accessible, strengthen health systems and prepare for future pandemics:
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation plans to provide €250 million of grants and investments to match a €250 million in investments made by the European Investment Bank and guaranteed by the European Fund for Sustainable Development plus.

Other funding packages include €80 million grants for Technical Assistance:

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation expects to match €40 million in grants from the European Commission to provide technical assistance and ensure that global health programs achieve their full potential.