End Polio Now Newsletter - August 2025

Rotary and Gates Foundation extend partnership to end polio

Rotary and the Gates Foundation are renewing their long-standing partnership to end polio. At the 2025 Rotary International Convention, they announced their joint commitment to keep supporting the global eradication effort.

Rotary will continue to raise US$50 million per year, with every dollar to be matched with two additional dollars from the Gates Foundation. Over three years, this renewed agreement will deliver up to US$450 million to support the Global Polio Eradication Initiative

Bill Gates
Learn more about this agreement
From Kabul to Kandahar: Inside Afghanistan’s first polio campaigns of 2025

Afghanistan carried out its first nationwide polio vaccination campaign of the year from 21 to 23 April, targeting more than 11 million children under age five. The effort was synchronized with a similar campaign in neighboring Pakistan. This is a vital strategy in the race to stop poliovirus transmission in the last two countries where the disease is endemic.

Just four weeks later, Afghanistan had a second nationwide campaign, and it was again synchronized with Pakistan’s. This back-to-back coordination is helping to close immunity gaps and intensify the fight against the virus before the season of high risk of transmission begins. Despite operating in a difficult environment, Afghanistan’s polio eradication program continues to adapt and innovate to protect every child.

Two Afghani children holding up their pinkies which are painted purple
Learn About Afghanistan's Polio Campaign: Click HERE
 
 
The last mile: Reaching every child in Pakistan

If you visited the House of Friendship at the 2025 Rotary International Convention in Calgary, Canada, you may have seen the new video from UNICEF that follows polio vaccination teams in two parts of Pakistan: Murree and Mithi. Murree is in a mountainous region, while Mithi is in a vast desert. This short film was made in February, during the first polio vaccination campaign in Pakistan this year, when over 400,000 frontline health workers visited homes across the country to vaccinate 45 million children ages 5 and under. The film shows the time and effort it takes to be able to reach children through tough terrain, especially in remote areas.

A large video screen playing a video
Watch The Film: Click HERE
 
 
What the latest immunization estimates mean for polio eradication

A mother and child at a health clinic getting a vaccination from a doctorThe newly released estimates of national immunization coverage from the World Health Organization and UNICEF indicate that global coverage for the third dose of polio vaccine in routine immunization systems was 84% in 2024. That’s the same as in 2022 and 2023 but still below pre-pandemic coverage of 86% from 2017 through 2019.

While immunization rates show signs of recovery in many countries, gaps persist, particularly in fragile and conflict-affected settings. There, the number of children who have not received any vaccine remains high. Ensuring comprehensive coverage and strengthening health care systems remain crucial for achieving a polio-free world.

For more details on the 2024 estimates and what they tell us about immunization globally, read the WHO-UNICEF press release and explore the WHO Immunization Data Portal.

 
 

Rotary and Polio In The News:

 

Resources to Raise Awareness and Funds: