Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Money Moves

Largest non-governmental funder of GPEI and polio research

Global donors pledged US$1.9 billion to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative at an Abu Dhabi pledging event on 8 December 2025, temporarily stabilizing a campaign facing a 30% budget cut in 2026 and a multi-year gap. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged US$1.2 billion and Rotary International pledged US$450 million, narrowing the 2022–2029 funding shortfall to roughly US$440 million but leaving a gap. Wild poliovirus transmission has resurged in Afghanistan and Pakistan as vaccine-derived polio sparks outbreaks in under-immunized communities worldwide.

Updated 6 days ago

New Capabilities

Largest private funder of polio eradication

When the Global Polio Eradication Initiative launched in 1988, wild poliovirus paralyzed 350,000 children annually across 125 countries. Today, the disease survives in only two: Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistan's nationwide vaccination campaign from February 2-8, 2026, reached 44.3 million of 45 million targeted children under five across 159 districts—achieving over 98% coverage in the final push to eliminate a disease that would become only the second human pathogen ever eradicated, after smallpox.

Updated Feb 13

New Capabilities

Pledged $912M for 2026-2028; aims to eradicate malaria by 2045

NIH researchers discovered a new class of antibodies that attack malaria parasites at a never-before-targeted site. The antibody MAD21-101 protected four out of five mice from infection and works differently than existing vaccines, binding to a cryptic protein fragment exposed only after the parasite undergoes a specific chemical transformation called pyroglutamylation. The breakthrough opens a fresh avenue in the decades-long hunt for a highly effective malaria vaccine.

Updated Jan 7