Bill Gates Pledges Another $1.2B To Help Wipe This Disease From The Face Of The Earth

Microsoft Corporation MSFT co-founder Bill Gates says he remains committed to the eradication of polio with his philanthropic foundation announcing a $1.2 billion support to end all forms of the debilitating disease globally.

What Happened: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said Sunday that its new pledge will support the implementation of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s Polio Eradication Strategy 2022-2026.

“Polio eradication is within reach. But as far as we have come, the disease remains a threat. Working together, the world can end this disease," said Gates.

In an interview that Gates shared on Twitter, he said the world came the “closest” to eradicating polio six months ago.

Last week, I sat down with Bloomberg @business to talk about why I remain so committed to eradicating polio. By coming together and funding efforts like the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, we can #EndPolio and build a healthier world. https://t.co/ziQgsz5JMn

— Bill Gates (@BillGates) October 16, 2022

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Why It Matters: Gates’s comments came ahead of World Polio Day on Oct. 24 — which marks the birth of Jonas Salk who led one of the first teams that developed a poliomyelitis vaccine.

The latest grant to GPEI will aim to end wild poliovirus in the last two endemic nations — Pakistan and Afghanistan. The foundation has contributed almost $5 billion to the initiative, according to a statement.

Gates said that giving up on Polio eradication would “mean hundreds of thousands of kids being paralyzed.”

In August, Gates sounded the alarm about the discovery of the polio virus in New York’s sewers.

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