Thursday, 1 June 2000: A major donation
from the Japanese Government to UNICEF will move the world closer to the
complete eradication of polio, the children's agency said today. The contribution
of $28.6 million will provide crucial support to polio eradication in Bangladesh,
Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Nigeria and Sudan -- six of the 30 priority countries
where the disease continues to threaten millions of children with paralysis
and death.
"Over the years, Japan has provided
significant support to UNICEF and has become one of the major contributors
to the global effort to rid the world of polio," UNICEF Executive
Director Carol Bellamy said. "This donation is another indication
that the world is firmly resolved to bring the scourge of polio to an end.
The Japanese Government is showing the kind of leadership this effort needs."
The UNICEF chief said each child's life is invaluable and irreplaceable and once again committed the organization to utilize all available means to immunize children everywhere.
The new donation from the Japanese Government is a welcome infusion of needed funds as the fight to eradicate polio draws closer to a victorious end. With this latest increase in available funding, Ms. Bellamy expressed confidence that the 2005 target date for certifying the world polio-free is well within reach.
The campaign is recording remarkable achievements. In 1999 alone, UNICEF and its partners supported national programmes that immunized over 450 million children. Over 147 million children were immunized in India in a single day. The disease, which was widespread in 125 countries across five continents when the global campaign was launched in 1988, will be concentrated in no more than 20 countries in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian sub-continent by the end of this year.
UNICEF will use the Japanese Government contribution to provide vaccines and cold chain facilities and also to support logistics, training and public education in the six endemic countries. National Immunization Days will be organized requiring massive grassroots volunteer efforts to ensure that oral polio vaccines reach the homes of every child in the endemic countries.
UNICEF's partners in the polio eradication initiative include the World Health Organization, Rotary International, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United Nations Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank and donor governments including Japan, UK, USA and the Netherlands.
"Without the generous support of all donors, the polio eradication campaign would be severely limited in what it could hope to achieve," Ms. Bellamy said. "UNICEF is grateful to the Government of Japan and to all other donors -- both those whose involvement has been long-term and those who have most recently committed to the struggle."
For more information on UNICEF, visit its web site at http://www.unicef.org