The Gates Foundation alone pledged $255 million, while the Governments of Germany and the UK provided another $280 million together. The rest of $100 million came from Rotary International, a longtime advocate for eradicating polio.

 

The money will be used by the World Health Organization and UNICEF adding to other donations coming from other countries and philanthropies. Since 1988, when the WHO launched its campaign against polio, roughly $6 billion have been spent on polio eradication.

 

Polio or poliomyelitis is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus, which invades the nervous system. It can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours after infection. The disease affects mainly children under five years of age. Symptoms include fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs.

 

One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis and 5-10 percent of these infections end tragically when breathing muscles become immobilized.

 

A vaccine for polio was introduced in the late 1950s and in early 1960s, the disease was brought under control thanks to it. However, it took years for polio to be recognized as a major problem in developing countries.

 

Today, polio has been eliminated from most of the world, but there are still countries where the disease remains endemic. Ninety-eight percent of all global cases are found in India, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan due to low vaccination rates (Nigeria) and war and terror, which make vaccination difficult in Afghanistan and Pakistan.