The Government of Canada, through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), will match all contributions raised by Rotarians in Canada by March 1, 2013 for the 'Pennies and More for Polio initiative'.
At the 67th annual United Nations General Assembly in September 2012, Canada's Minister of International Cooperation Julian Fantino, together with Rotarians in Canada and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, announced a joint undertaking called Pennies and More for Polio.
CIDA and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation originally agreed to match dollar for dollar donations by Canadians to the Rotary Foundation, to a maximum of $1 million each, up until March 1, 2013.
To date, Rotarians in Canada have exceeded this fundraising goal, having raised over $1.6 million. Canada and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will now match the total amount of funds raised through the initiative. This will mean every dollar raised by Rotarians in Canada until the March deadline will be leveraging an additional $2 towards polio eradication. Funds will be provided directly to the World Health Organization's Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is a public-private partnership whose goal is to eradicate polio worldwide. The GPEI was launched in 1988 by national governments, the World Health Organization, Rotary International, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and UNICEF.
The additional resources announced today for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative will contribute to a reduction in polio cases and build on Canada's ongoing commitment to improve maternal, newborn, and child health. Canada's support for polio eradication is based on the Muskoka Initiative, which aims to reduce maternal mortality and childhood morbidity.
Since 2000, Canada has supported polio-eradication efforts by working with partners to immunize millions of children and help eradicate polio in the remaining polio-endemic countries: Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria.
