By Jennifer Rigby
LONDON (Reuters) – The mission to eliminate polio as a worldwide health threat could encounter a setback if the United States does not reverse its funding reductions, which could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars over several years, cautioned a senior official from the World Health Organization.
The WHO collaborates with organizations such as UNICEF and the Gates Foundation in the fight against polio. The decision by the United States to withdraw from the WHO has had a negative impact on these efforts, leading to the cessation of partnerships with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Recently, UNICEF’s polio funding was terminated as the State Department slashed 90% of USAID’s grants globally to align with President Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ policy.
The partnership is now facing a shortfall of $133 million from the United States, funds that were expected for the current year, revealed Hamid Jafari, the director of the polio eradication program for the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean region. Notably, this region includes Afghanistan and Pakistan, where a wild strain of polio continues to spread.
Jafari expressed concern over the potential implications of this funding gap, highlighting that it could delay the eradication efforts and result in more children being afflicted with paralysis. He stressed that prolonging the campaign against polio would not only delay progress but also escalate costs.
Despite the challenges posed by the funding shortfall, Jafari mentioned that efforts are underway to mitigate its impact, particularly on personnel and surveillance. He expressed hope for the U.S. to resume its financial support for the fight against polio, while exploring alternative funding sources to sustain critical staffing and activities.
Jafari assured that vaccination campaigns in both Afghanistan and Pakistan would be safeguarded, emphasizing the importance of continued support for these initiatives. While UNICEF did not provide comments on the matter, a spokesperson for the Gates Foundation reiterated the impossibility of any foundation single-handedly filling the void left by the U.S. In a positive development, Saudi Arabia recently contributed $500 million towards polio eradication.
As the partnership was already facing a $2.4 billion shortfall projected until 2029, an acknowledgment was made last year that eradicating the disease would require more time and resources than initially anticipated.
(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
