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Gates Foundation spearheads Polio Legacy Challenge for Afghanistan
The polio campaign will be done in conjunction with the Islamic Development Bank, along with Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation along with Qatar will launch the Polio Legacy Challenge to help eradicate the disease in Afghanistan, a top official of the organisation told Gulf Times.
According to Chris Elias, the president of the Global Development Division at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the campaign will be done in conjunction with the Islamic Development Bank, along with Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia.
“With our work on polio eradication, we are actually launching something called the Polio Legacy Challenge with the Islamic Development Bank.
“Gates Foundation and the governments of Qatar, UAE, and Saudi Arabia will provide some funding through the Afghan Reconstruction Trust Fund to support the primary healthcare system in Afghanistan,” Elias said.
“This is a new initiative that is just beginning now. We are basically working with the countries that have indicated their interest in doing it and in the process of finalising the agreements with the Islamic Development Bank. We hope to launch it in early 2025,” he explained.
“We will have a governing body in which all of the contributors will participate. The funds will be administered through the Islamic Development Bank for support of the primary health care system in Afghanistan,” continued the official.
Elias noted that currently he chairs the board of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, and has been working with Qatar on some of the regional initiatives to help finalise the job of polio eradication.
“We have seen the wild polio virus in the two endemic countries of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Under the auspices of the World Health Organisation, the regional subcommittee on polio eradication is co-chaired by Qatar and UAE.
“The ministers of health of the Middle East region have actually been very helpful in encouraging both Pakistan and Afghanistan to do what is necessary for the final elimination of polio virus. So again, Qatar has been very helpful in this regard.”
Polio is still present in Afghanistan, with the wild poliovirus endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In 2024, Afghanistan reported 23 cases. In 2022, Afghanistan reported two cases, and five during 2023.
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Norwegian Refugee Council NGO to suspend aid work in over 20 countries due to Trump policy
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that the administration would reach out to USAID to identify and designate programs that would be exempted from the stop-work orders.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said on Monday it would suspend humanitarian work in nearly 20 countries worldwide after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a freeze on U.S. foreign aid worldwide when he took office on January 20, Reuters reported.
The non-governmental organisation received just under 20% of its funding from the United States in 2024, or around $150 million, it said, with that funding helping some 1.6 million people worldwide.
"We have, in our 79-year history, never experienced such an abrupt discontinuation of aid funding from any of our many donor nations, inter-governmental organisations, or private donor agencies," the NRC said in a statement.
The agency said the consequences of suspending aid would become increasingly serious for people facing crises around the world.
Already in Ukraine, NRC said, it had to halt the scheduled February distribution of emergency support to 57,000 people in communities along the front lines and had to lay off staff worldwide.
The Trump administration said last Monday it would put on leave all directly hired employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) globally and recall thousands of personnel working overseas, read the report.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that the administration would reach out to USAID to identify and designate programs that would be exempted from the stop-work orders.
However, the NRC said it was unable to take advantage of the temporary waiver unless the U.S. government resumed payments to its partners for work completed before the foreign assistance pause.
"We currently have millions of dollars in outstanding payment requests to the U.S. government. Without an immediate solution we may, at the end of February, be forced to halt U.S.-funded lifesaving humanitarian programmes," it said.
That included supplying clean water to 300,000 people trapped in the blockaded city of Djibo in Burkina Faso, and cutting funding to nearly 500 bakeries in Darfur, Sudan, which provide food hundreds of thousands of people, the NRC said.
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IEA slams Netanyahu’s suggestion Saudi Arabia host Palestinian state

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) on Monday condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s suggestion that Saudi Arabia’s land be used to establish a Palestinian state.
IEA’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the suggestion is “unrealistic and flagrant violation of internationally recognized facts and Saudi Arabia’s sovereignty.”
“Such statements by Netanyahu constitute a direct affront to established norms and a clear infringement on the legitimate rights of the Palestinians,” the statement said.
The IEA reiterated that Palestine is “the rightful land of the Palestinian people,” adding that “as long as the occupation continues, the inalienable rights of Palestinian people will remain violated, Gaza and the broader region will remain unstable, and such scenario benefits no one.”
On Thursday, Netanyahu told Channel 14: “The Saudis can create a Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia; they have a lot of land over there.”
President Donald Trump meanwhile has said he is "committed to buying and owning" the Gaza Strip and relocating the two million Palestinians living there. This comes despite global condemnation of the plan he unveiled last week.
He told reporters that he might allow Middle East countries to be involved in rebuilding parts of the territory and that he would make sure the Palestinian refugees would "live beautifully".
Hamas and Palestinians reiterated that Palestinian land was "not for sale".
But Netanyahu praised Trump's proposal as "revolutionary and creative".
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2,500 tons of pulses distributed in Afghanistan last year: WFP
The announcement comes as WFP warns that an estimated 15 million people in Afghanistan will struggle with hunger this winter.

The World Food Program (WFP) said it distributed 2,500 metric tons of pulses across Afghanistan last year with support from the European Union, Germany, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
In a post on X, the agency noted that pulses — rich in protein, iron, minerals, and vitamin B — served as a key source of nutrition for 700,000 people across the country.
The announcement comes as WFP warns that an estimated 15 million people in Afghanistan will struggle with hunger this winter.
“Nearly 15 million people in Afghanistan are projected to face crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity this winter,” WFP said in an earlier report.
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