Rotary International has announced a renewed commitment with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to jointly raise up to $450 million in support of global efforts to eradicate polio.

As part of the commitment—the second three-year extension of the partnership established more than a decade ago—Rotary will work to raise $50 million a year, with each dollar to be matched with two additional dollars from the Gates Foundation. The renewed partnership follows recent pledges by Rotary ($150 million) and Gates ($1.2 billion) to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). Since 1985, Rotary has contributed more than $2.6 billion to polio eradication efforts.

The Rotary Foundation recently approved grants totaling $50 million in support of ongoing immunization efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan—the only countries where poliovirus remains endemic—to reach children under the age of 5, with an emphasis on improving community awareness and engagement, promoting vaccine acceptance, reducing the number of missed children, and ensuring robust surveillance capacity to quickly detect poliovirus transmission. According to Rotary, efforts to reach children amid insecurity and conflict and weak health systems have proven to be among the greatest challenges to global eradication of polio.

 “Eradicating polio requires the dedication and generosity of nations and individuals around the world, and Rotarians are again leading the way,” said Gates Foundation co-chair Melinda French Gates. “Together, we are moving closer to our shared goal of ending polio and ensuring that families will never have to fear this disease again.”

(Photo credit: Rotary International)