Nigeria gets $7.7mn to fight polio

By BENJAMIN UMUTEME –Nigeria is to get $7.7 million in grants from Rotary to tackle polio in the country.

The money to the country is part of $49.5 million by Rotary International to country around the world to eradicate the disease.

‎Afghanistan and Pakistan with the most endemic cases of the disease got the highest amount of $9.32 million and $8.94 million respectively.

Further funding will support efforts to keep six vulnerable countries polio-free: Chad ($2.37 million), the Democratic Republic of Congo ($4.5 million), Guinea ($961,000), Somalia ($1.62 million), South Sudan ($3.77 million), and Sudan ($2.56 million).

An additional $7.74 million will go toward surveillance activities in Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean region.

According to ‎chair of Rotary’s International PolioPlus Committee, Michael McGover‎n, the fund I a show of solidarity and to raise awareness and funds for polio eradication.

He noted that without funding and political commitment to eradication, the disease could return to countries that are now polio-free and put children everywhere at risk.

“Rotary and its partners are closer than ever to eradicating polio,” n, which leads the organization’s polio eradication efforts. “World Polio Day is the ideal opportunity to celebrate our successes, raise public awareness, and talk about what is needed to end this paralyzing disease for good.”

“To protect all children from polio, world governments and donors must see through their commitments to fund critical work and support rigorous disease surveillance in both endemic and at-risk polio-free countries,” says McGovern.

Rotary has committed to raising $150 million over the next three years, which will be matched 2-to-1 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, yielding $450 million for polio eradication activities, including immunization and surveillance globally.

With about 7 cases of polio recorded globally in 2017, Rotary says this disease is on the verge of being eradicated.