US actions may set polio eradication back, WHO says

The eradication of polio as a global health threat may be delayed unless U.S. funding cuts – potentially totaling hundreds of millions of dollars over several years – are reversed, a senior World Health Organization official has warned.

The WHO works with groups such as UNICEF and the Gates Foundation to end polio. 

The planned withdrawal of the United States from WHO has impacted efforts, including stopping collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last week, UNICEF's polio grant was terminated as the State Department cut 90% of USAID's grants worldwide to align aid with President Donald Trump's 'America First' policy.

The partnership is missing $133 million from the U.S. that was expected this year, said Hamid Jafari, director of the polio eradication program for the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean region. The area includes two countries where a wild form of polio is spreading: Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“If the funding shortfall continues, it may potentially delay eradication; it may lead to more children getting paralyzed,” he said, adding that the longer it took to end polio, the more expensive it would be.

Reuters