The UAE pledged $30 million (Dh110.1 million) as part of its commitment to eradicating polio along with global health leaders as they gathered at the Rotary Convention in Atlanta on Monday.
Governments and partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), a public-private partnership dedicated to ending the disease, met at the convention and pledged $1.2 billion to finance efforts to end polio.
Poliomyelitis, commonly known as polio, is a highly infectious viral disease that mainly affects young children. The virus is spread through person-to-person transmission and once in the body, it can invade the nervous system and can cause paralysis.
Thirty years ago, polio paralysed more than 350,000 children each year in more than 125 countries around the world. But through the collaboration of governments, health workers, donors and the partners of GPEI, polio has now been eliminated in all but three countries: Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan.
Only five cases have been reported to date in 2017.
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