Gates Foundation extended its gratitude to Rotary International for its partnership in polio eradication via a video message from Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates shown last Tuesday afternoon to members of the Rotary Club of Saipan at the Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan.
“The Gates Foundation is thrilled to continue our 2- to-1 giving match, with Rotary up to $50 million. The tripling impact of every dollar you raise, we’re so grateful that Rotary has taken full advantage of that match during this critical period, and we hope to continue that streak in the years ahead,” said Gates.
According to the billionaire philanthropist, Rotary’s contributions including advocacy, awareness campaigns, and service have been instrumental in the progress made.
“The role of Rotary goes far beyond fundraising, of course, Rotarians have been leading the charge on this issue. Since the beginning through advocacy awareness campaigns… we should all be incredibly proud of how far we’ve come when polio is eradicated. And I, do mean when, not if it will be one of the biggest advances in public health in human history.”
Gates added that Rotary’s efforts are crucial in achieving this goal.
“The world would have never gotten to this point without Rotarians, and we won’t be able to get over the finish line without all your efforts. I’m looking forward to celebrating with you the day we cross it together. So, thank you once again for all that you do,” added Gates.
Gates mentioned that Rotary International played a pivotal role in the fight to eradicate polio, leading the creation of the Global Polio initiative in 1988 while polio paralyzed 350,000 children every year.
“In 2023, that number was down to 12 more than two and a half billion children received polio vaccines worldwide, and at least 20 million of them would have otherwise been paralyzed, never had to experience the disease.”
Furthermore, the polio eradication efforts face challenges despite significant progress. Wild polio remains endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and variant polio cases emerge in previously polio-free African countries.
“Climate disasters and global pandemics disrupted health systems around the world. We continue to see cases in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the only two countries where wild polio is still endemic, and unfortunately, we are still seeing variant polio cases in Africa, where the virus was previously eliminated. The top fact is as long as polio exists anywhere, it’s a threat to spread back everywhere.”
Gates also mentioned the new vaccines developed by the foundation reduce mutations and variants. Over a billion doses are administered worldwide, reducing outbreak risk by 80%.
“So, these next two years are absolutely critical and to aid our efforts, we have fantastic new tools at our disposal, like what’s called the new OPB2 vaccine that our foundation helped develop and that produces fewer mutations and variants. That vaccine was actually rolled out in 2021, during the pandemic, and already more than a billion doses have been administered around the world, reducing the risk of new outbreaks by over 80% compared to the previous vaccine. But all the scientific progress in the world would be meaningless without people, making sure the vaccines actually are reaching all the kids.”
The video ended with Gates expressing his gratitude to Rotarians once again as well as to healthcare workers and volunteers for their efforts.
