• USD 1.9 billion in global commitments announced at ADFW 2025, including USD 1.2 billion in new funding
• Resource gap for GPEI 2022–2029 strategy drops to USD 440 million
• Funding aims to reach 370 million children annually and strengthen national health systems
Governments, philanthropies and global health leaders confirmed USD 1.9 billion in collective financing to eradicate polio, closing most of the remaining gap in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s (GPEI) 2022–2029 delivery strategy. The announcement was made at Abu Dhabi Finance Week 2025 during the pledging event titled Investing in Humanity: Uniting to End Polio.
Roughly USD 1.2 billion of the total reflects new pledges, shrinking the outstanding financing gap to USD 440 million. The capital will accelerate immunisation campaigns aimed at 370 million children per year, with a parallel focus on health system resilience in regions where disease risk remains high.
Pledges spanned public, private and philanthropic funders. The Gates Foundation committed USD 1.2 billion. The Mohamed bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity pledged USD 140 million. Rotary International committed USD 450 million, Bloomberg Philanthropies USD 100 million, Pakistan USD 154 million and Germany USD 62 million. Additional support came from the United States at USD 46 million, Japan at USD 6 million, IFANCA at USD 4 million and Luxembourg at USD 3 million.
A Near-Eradicated Disease, But A Narrow Window
Wild poliovirus is now endemic in only Afghanistan and Pakistan, but variant strains continue to surface through low-immunisation corridors. The stakes are long term and financial. Full eradication would save the world more than USD 33 billion by 2100 compared with managing recurring outbreaks.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, framed the moment with urgency.
“We are on the cusp of eradicating polio and securing a historic win for humanity. But we need all countries, partners and donors to step up now to get the job done. The new support pledged in Abu Dhabi will be instrumental in helping the GPEI reach all children in the final endemic countries and stop variant polio outbreaks around the world.”
The UAE Positions Itself As A Global Anchor
The UAE has become a consistent locus for global health diplomacy on polio. His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has committed USD 525 million to eradication efforts since 2011. Through the Emirates Polio Campaign, more than 850 million vaccine doses have reached children in Pakistan since 2014, with particular attention on remote and conflict-affected regions where immunisation teams face access barriers.
Today’s event is the third major global pledging platform hosted in Abu Dhabi, following 2013 and 2019 summits that together generated USD 6.6 billion in support.
Her Highness Sheikha Mariam bint Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chair of the Mohamed bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity, pointed to collective responsibility.
“Today’s pledges demonstrate our shared determination to end polio and protect every child from this preventable disease. Decades of progress have proved that a polio-free world is within our reach when we act together. Under the guidance of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, we are proud to stand with countries, donors and partners as we work hand-in-hand to achieve it.”
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Financing, Governance And The Final Stretch
The campaign’s main challenge is not medical innovation but delivery. Reaching children in the last strongholds of the virus requires security coordination, community trust, consistent funding and large-scale logistics. Investors and financial decision makers monitoring global health stability view eradication as a long-term cost saver in development budgets, pandemic resilience and insurance exposure.
Bill Gates, Chair of the Gates Foundation, highlighted what remains.
“The fight to end polio shows what is possible when the world invests together in a shared goal. We’re 99.9 percent of the way there, but the last stretch demands the same determination that got us this far. This renewed funding will help us cross the finish line and strengthen the systems that protect children from this terrible disease for good.”
Why This Moment Matters For Executive Decision Makers
The announcement carries implications beyond polio. It tests whether sustained multilateral financing can push a global health challenge to full eradication. The outcome will influence donor appetite for similar disease-elimination drives, shape development finance priorities through 2030, and determine how states prepare for future infectious disease shocks.
If eradication succeeds, polio will become only the second human disease eliminated globally after smallpox. For ESG-aligned investors, the return profile is clear: upfront capital now prevents decades of reactive expenditure later.
Abu Dhabi’s USD 1.9 billion financing moment signals global intent, but the window is narrow. The coming years will determine whether the world closes the final transmission channels or bears ongoing cost, risk and inequity for another generation.
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