Polio Eradication Is Just Over the Horizon: The Challenges of Global Resource Mobilization

Abstract

This study draws lessons from the resource mobilization experiences of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). As the GPEI launched its eradication effort in 1988, it underestimated both the difficulty and the costs of the campaign. Advocacy for resource mobilization came as an afterthought in the late 1990s, when achieving eradication by the target date of 2000 began to look doubtful. The reality of funding shortfalls undercutting eradication leads to the conclusion that advocacy for resource mobilization is as central to operations as are scientific and technical factors.

Notes

¹Eradication is defined as the permanent reduction to zero of the worldwide incidence of infection. In contrast, inherent in the definitions of control and elimination is the need for continued intervention measures to prevent reemergence and reestablishment of transmission. See Heymann and Aylward (2006).