Rotary’s response to the U.S.’s plan to withdraw from the WHO, USAID funding freeze

By Rotary International

February 6, 2025

Rotary notes the recent announcement that the United States intends to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO), a partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). We remain resolute in our mission to eradicate polio. As a founding partner of the GPEI, Rotary has for decades worked closely with all the GPEI partners, the U.S. government, and other governments to end polio worldwide. This effort has reduced the number of children paralyzed by polio by 99.9% since 1988. The global effort to eradicate polio has innovated many times over the years to come close to protecting every last child.

Although this decision creates new challenges, Rotary remains dedicated to ensuring that every child is protected from this preventable disease. We are confident that the GPEI will continue to adapt, to innovate, and to implement effective strategies to keep polio vaccines available for every child in the United States and around the world, especially those in the most challenging and remote regions. The most important decisions leading to a polio-free world are made every day by parents who present their children for vaccination.

We remain committed to working with all GPEI partners to fulfill the promise of a polio-free world. Together, we have ended smallpox, and together, we can ensure that polio becomes the second human disease to be eradicated from the planet.

Rotary, USAID projects

Rotary has collaborated with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) since 2009 on different types of programs. Our current programmatic efforts and communications with USAID personnel and leadership are on hold due to the stop-work order issued by USAID. Rotary International has already notified members whose projects are directly impacted by this order and is working to continue to support them in their impactful work.

We are navigating the implications of the recent stop-work order issued for Hearts of Europe projects that are part of a partnership with USAID. All projects that are currently in an implementation phase have been notified and given information about what actions need to be taken while the stop-work order is in effect. We are working directly with those projects that are not yet being implemented to determine alternative funding for their important work.

— 6 February 2025