At the World Economic Forum (WEF) special assembly, which runs until Monday in Riyadh, more than $620 million (€578.6 million) were donated to the initiative. Of this total, Saudi Arabia pledged to provide approximately $500 million (€466.6 million) over the next five years, in a public-private partnership with six partners, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This contribution will help provide vital healthcare services, including polio vaccines, to vulnerable populations through the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, while also lifting millions out of poverty across the 33 member countries of the Islamic Development Bank. Speaking from Riyadh, Bill Gates said the world is “very close” to eradicating one of the most preventable diseases, “but [the job] is not completely done until it is zero [cases], because it can come roaring back as it did before”. “We can get rid of this disease, polio”, which has killed hundreds of thousands of children, and envision a world without it, but that requires “a collective effort”, added the philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder. Saudi Arabia’s Health Minister Fahad bin Abdurrahman Al Jarajel said from the WEF stage that “achieving a polio-free world would be a monumental achievement and a testament to global collaboration”. Also speaking on the panel titled ‘Closing the Health Gap’, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the world is in the “last mile” of its mission to eradicate polio. Since Africa was declared wild polio-free in 2020, the only two countries left in the world with endemic wild poliovirus are Pakistan and Afghanistan. According to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the commitment from Middle Eastern countries has contributed to “reducing polio cases in these countries from more than 300 in 2014 to 12 in 2023”. But “until polio cases reach zero and the world is certified polio-free, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) will continue to need resources”, the foundation said in a statement. Read Also: Após décadas paralisado por poliomielite, 'Polio Paul' morreu aos 78 anos (Portuguese version)