UK Aid Earmarks £400 Million To Vaccinate Children Against Polio

Blessing Bature, Abuja

The UK has packaged up to £400 million to help support 20 million health workers and volunteers, capable of vaccinating more than 750 children a minute against polio in developing countries around the world.

The International Development Secretary Alok Sharma said the UK’s new package of up to £400 million will go towards the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Adding that the UK, along with other donors, will help support more than 20 million health workers and volunteers to reach children with vaccines and other healthcare.

Sharma said the funding which runs from 2020 to 2023 will help buy tens of millions doses of polio vaccine every year – enough to vaccinate more than 750 children a minute. £400 million UK aid support will help vaccinate more than 400 million children a year against polio. “We have made tremendous progress to fight this debilitating disease, but our work must continue if we are to eradicate it for ever. That’s why I am today committing fresh support to help immunise 400 million children a year around the world. If we were to pull back on immunisations, we could see 200,000 new cases each year in a decade. This would not only be a tragedy for the children affected and their families, but also for the world. We cannot let this happen”

Polio was wiped out in UK in the 1980s, but three countries - Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria – are still not officially wild polio free and without this new support, tens of thousands of children would be at risk of paralysis from the disease, which leaves many unable to walk for the rest of their lives, she said.

Bill Gates, Co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said:
“We have the ability to wipe polio off the face of the planet. But that will require more support to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. I’m excited to see the UK leading the way on this front. Their generosity will make a huge difference in eradicating this disease once and for all. Thanks to global efforts, backed by the UK, more than 18 million people are currently walking who would otherwise have been paralysed by the virus”

Speaking, Jim Bailey, a 63-year-old polio survivor from Belfast said of the new funding, "I contracted Polio in 1957. No child should have to go through what I and so many others have been through. On my recent visit to Pakistan I saw for myself how UK aid is helping to end polio once and for all. This new UK aid support is great news, helping to pave the way for a polio-free world.”

A spokesperson for the Department for International Development in Nigeria said the Secretary of States announcement today is yet another clear demonstration of our commitment and support to Nigeria, and to ending the plight of polio once and for all. This new pledge brings UK support to ending polio up to £1.7 billion since 1995”