Bill Gates Calls The Russia-Ukraine War Constraining Polio Vaccination Efforts

Illustration of giving the polio vaccine. (Wikimedia Commons/US Air Force/Staft Staff. Stephen Schester)

JAKARTA - The Russian war with Ukraine has hampered efforts to immunize children against polio, said philanthropist, also Microsoft founder Bill Gates, said on Sunday.

At a philanthropic event at the University of New York Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Gates said essential financial assistance spent fighting a disease like polio is now being diverted to the defense budget, rebuilding war-torn areas and helping refugees.

"After the Ukraine war begins, some donors stop their aid. It will be difficult until the war ends," he said, launching The National News December 12.

"War in Yemen, instability and social resistance in Afghanistan and Pakistan is also a setback in the vaccination campaign," he said.

"You're going through a war in Yemen. More children are paralyzed in Yemen than anywhere in the world last year because of polio. And because of these war conditions, we can't put vaccines into the country," Gates explained.

"The second biggest setbacks are in Pakistan and Afghanistan, two countries where we have never been able to completely eradicate this disease, but we really hope."

"But now it's more difficult, because money is diverted to other humanitarian jobs such as rebuilding Africa," said the man who is ranked fourth richest person in the world according to Forbes in 2022, with assets of around IDR 2,020 trillion.

He explained that the polio eradication campaign began in 1988 and cases were lowered to several hundred every year.

"The last part is very difficult, but if we stop it, it will spread again, and you will paralyze several thousand children. It will be very tragic to give up," he explained.

Last October, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged to invest US$1.2 billion or around Rp. 18,555,660,000,000 to eradicate polio, as health experts from around the world gathered for a summit in Berlin, Germany.

"The eradication of polio can be achieved but as far as we have come, this disease remains a threat," said Bill Gates, chairman with the foundation.

The donation will be managed by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, a public-private partnership led by the government aimed at ending the disease by 2026.