Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Pledge $1.2 Billion to Eradicate Polio

Bill and Melinda Gates (R), founders of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, take part in a discussion organized by British magazine The Economist about expected breakthroughs in the next 15 years in health, education, farming and banking, in Brussels on Jan. 22, 2015. Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said on Sunday that it will commit $1.2 billion to support efforts to end all forms of polio globally.

Polio is a highly infectious disease spread mainly through contamination by fecal matter, used to kill and paralyze thousands of children annually.