U.S. commits $205 million to polio eradication

President Barack Obama signed an omnibus appropriations bill in January that provides $205 million to support polio eradication in 2014, through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U. S. Agency for International Development.

The largest government donor to polio eradication, the U.S. has contributed more than $2.3 billion since the mid-1980s, when 125 countries were polio endemic and the disease afflicted 350,000 people annually. Today, only Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria are endemic, and in 2013, the combined incidence of polio in those countries fell to a record-low 157 cases. Last month , India reached a three-year milestone without polio, paving the way for the entire Southeast Asia region to be certified free of the disease.

Give to End Polio Now
Help Rotary advocate for a polio-free world
Be part of the World's Biggest Commercial<