David Cameron joins Gates in pledge on polio

Britain has promised to double its funding to fight polio if other donors also increase their contributions to eradicate the crippling disease.

David Cameron issued a joint statement with Bill Gates, pictured right, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, yesterday pledging to increase UK government funding by 20 million a year for two years.

Mr Gates, the computing magnate, has taken a close interest in the fight against polio, which attacks the nervous system and can cause paralysis within hours of infection. The number of cases has been cut by 99 per cent in the past two decades and the disease is now close to being only the second disease in history - after smallpox - to be wiped out.

Mr Gates, whose $34 billion (21.3bn) Gates Foundation seeks to improve health in poor countries, said polio could be stopped in all but one endemic region in the next three years if donors and national governments focused on getting vaccines to those who need them.

He said his foundation was committing an additional $102m to the effort.

Mr Cameron said it was a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rid the world of the evil of polio".