The donation, while hailed on Monday by global-health officials as a major step, still leaves a substantial funding gap over the next two years.

It also comes at a time when several scientists have raised new concerns about whether the strategy to wipe out polio is correct.

The Gates Foundation gave $100 million to Rotary, which pledged to match the grant from club-member donations over the next three years.

Beneficiaries

Rotary officials said Monday that they will transfer the Gates money to the World Health Organisation and Unicef next year for use in polio immunisation campaigns. In the last 15 years, Rotary has donated more than $600 million to fight polio and thousands of the service club’s members have volunteered in campaigns.

Speaking to reporters, Dr Robert Scott, chairman of Rotary Foundation, said of the Gates grant, “One hundred million dollars takes our breath away. The job is 99 per cent completed. But the polio cases representing the final one percent are the most costly.”

Bill Gates Sr, co-chairman of the Gates Foundation, said polio eradication was an “achievable goal”, adding that he hoped the grant would challenge governments to fulfil commitments to fund the program.
WHO officials have estimated that eradication efforts will cost nearly $1.3 billion in the next two years.