A Palestinian child receives a polio vaccination at a clinic in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, on October 16, 2024. Moiz Salhi/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images

International leaders and philanthropists, including Bill Gates, announced $1.9 billion in funding to advance polio eradication on Monday, but a large funding gap remains after high-income countries’ reductions in foreign aid.

The funding gap for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative through 2029 now stands at $440 million, according to a statement on the initiative about the pledging event held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The private-public partnership aims to eradicate polio worldwide by 2029 and is led by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Gates Foundation, Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control

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