RadioOnFire.com - Bill and Melinda Gates have announced that this year they will begin making installments on a 20-year plan to settle the debt they've agreed to pay Japan on behalf of Nigeria. Nigeria currently owes the Far-East nation $76 million for anti-polio vaccines and resources.
The pledge is one that the billionaire tech tycoon couple has made as part of their efforts to help relieve some of the economic and health burdens faced by the African nation, in conjunction with their foundation's commitment to eradicating polio from the region once and for all. The Gates Foundation had introduced its plan to help Nigeria tackle the debt back in 2014. At the time, Gates and his wife made it known that they'd be willing to aid the country under the condition that they achieve "more than 80% vaccination coverage in at least one round each year in very high-risk areas across 80% of the country’s local government areas.”
Since receiving the offer, Nigeria has reportedly made good on its end of the deal by reporting no new cases of the disease in 2017. Such an amazing development came five years after a 2012 report confirmed that the country had been responsible for over half of all international cases of polio. Over the past three decades, the worldwide number of polio cases have gradually dropped from 350,000 per year to 21.
Just last year The Gates Foundation gave $3 billion to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative's efforts.
Source: bigthink.com
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