The Global Vaccine Summit: Abu Dhabi 2013
Event website: http://globalvaccinesummit.org/

Media Release: Global Leaders Support New Six-Year Plan to Deliver a Polio-Free World by 2018
Global eradication programme will move simultaneously on multiple fronts expanding focus to improve childhood immunization and protect gains made to date.
25 April 2013
[posted on GPEI site at: http://www.polioeradication.org/tabid/488/iid/291/Default.aspx ]
Excerpt
Today, at the Global Vaccine Summit, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) presented a comprehensive six-year plan, the first plan to eradicate all types of polio disease – both wild poliovirus and vaccine-derived cases – simultaneously. Global leaders and individual philanthropists signaled their confidence in the plan by pledging three-quarters of the plan’s projected US$ 5.5 billion cost over six years. They also called upon additional donors to commit up front the additional US$1.5 billion needed to ensure eradication….
…“After millennia battling polio, this plan puts us within sight of the endgame. We have new knowledge about the polioviruses, new technologies and new tactics to reach the most vulnerable communities. The extensive experience, infrastructure and knowledge gained from ending polio can help us reach all children and all communities with essential health services,” said World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan.
The Polio Eradication & Endgame Strategic Plan 2013-2018 was developed by the GPEI in extensive consultation with a broad range of stakeholders. The plan incorporates the lessons learnt from India’s success becoming polio free (no cases since January 2011) and cutting-edge knowledge about the risk of circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses. It also complements the tailored Emergency Action Plans being implemented since last year in the remaining polio-endemic countries – Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria – including approaches in place to vaccinate children in insecure areas….

…The plan addresses the operational challenges of vaccinating children, including in densely populated urban areas, hard-to-reach areas and in areas of insecurity. The plan includes the use of polio eradication experience and resources to strengthen immunization systems in high-priority countries. It also lays out a process for planning how to transition the GPEI’s resources and lessons, particularly in reaching the most marginalized and vulnerable children and communities, so that they continue to be of service to other public health efforts. It is estimated that GPEI’s efforts to eradicate polio could deliver total net benefits of US$ 40-50 billion by 2035 from reduced treatment costs and gains in productivity…
…Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, announced that his foundation would commit one-third of the total cost of the GPEI’s budget over the plan’s six-year implementation, for a total of US$1.8 billion. The funds will be allocated with the goal of enabling the GPEI to operate effectively against all of the plan’s objectives. To encourage other donors to commit the remaining funding up front, the Gates funding for 2016-2018 will be released when GPEI secures funding that ensures the foundation’s contribution does not exceed one-third of the total budget for those years.
Joining Gates was a new group of individual philanthropists that announced its support for full implementation of the new plan. The total new pledges from philanthropists to the polio initiative amounted to an additional US$335 million toward the plan’s six-year budget. The donors commended the tremendous progress toward eradication made in the last year and their desire to help change history and end polio while the opportunity still exists. Commitments include:
– Albert L. Ueltschi Foundation
– Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation-Global
– Bloomberg Philanthropies
– Carlos Slim Foundation
– Dalio Foundation
– The Foundation for a Greater Opportunity established by Carl C. Icahn
– The Tahir Foundation
…The plan’s US$ 5.5 billion budget over six years requires sustaining current yearly spending to eradicate polio. The new plan’s budget includes the costs of reaching and vaccinating more than 250 million children multiple times every year, monitoring and surveillance in more than 70 countries, and securing the infrastructure that can benefit other health and development programs.
http://www.polioeradication.org/tabid/488/iid/291/Default.aspx

[web video] Opening Event: Global Immunization Celebration
24 April 2013
“An interactive program highlighting recent immunization and global health successes, and honoring the individuals, communities and partners who have made them possible. We will celebrate how far we have come, and prepare to spend the following day focused on the challenges left to resolve.”
https://www.facebook.com/billmelindagatesfoundation/app_229262693878420

[web video] The Roadmap to Global Polio Eradication
25 April 2013
Video: http://new.livestream.com/gatesfoundation/globalpolioeradication

Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan 2013-2018
[version at 14 April 2013]
GPEI
96 pages
http://www.polioeradication.org/Portals/0/Document/Resources/StrategyWork/EndGameStratPlan_20130414_ENG.pdf