SEATTLE (AP) - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is pledging $100 million to help the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and others fight polio around the world.
The Seattle-based Gates Foundation says Bloomberg is set to announce the donation to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative on Thursday. The group has a six-year plan to eliminate polio.
Polio is a vaccine-preventable disease that has been eradicated in most countries, but it still causes paralysis or death in parts of the world, including Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Gates and Bloomberg foundations have also collaborated to reduce tobacco use, and to encourage family planning and modern birth control.
Bloomberg's website says he has donated $2.4 billion to a variety of causes over the years, including $330 million in 2011.
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