In November, Malta will play host for the second time in 10 years to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. For many Maltese, the descent of thousands of delegates and media representatives from around the world will create an energetic boost in tourism.

For others, CHOGM will be nothing more than a nuisance as restrictive security protocols are imposed to accommodate 50 or so prime ministers and presidents, not to mention the queen.

Few people, though, will likely be excited by the prospect of CHOGM - often ridiculed as a toothless talkfest - actually delivering something meaningful for populations of the Commonwealth.

It’s this last assumption about the utility of such meetings I challenge by proposing that, this year, under Malta’s leadership, CHOGM has the potential to play a unique and potentially history-making role in the effort to make polio just the second human disease after smallpox to be eradicated.

A debilitating disease that once paralysed and killed people throughout the world, including Malta, polio cases have been reduced by 99 per cent since the launch, in 1988, of an extraordinary global partnership spearheaded by Rotary International. As a result, polio today remains endemic in just three countries – Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan – the latter two being Commonwealth countries.

With Malta in the chair, the Commonwealth now has the opportunity to make the complete eradication of polio within the next few years a global priority, renewing political and financial commitment. In doing so, Malta would build on the legacy of the Commonwealth, which has shown great leadership before in support of achieving a polio-free world, something I have witnessed first-hand.

Four years ago, I was privileged to be in the room at the 2011 CHOGM in my home city of Perth, Australia, when Commonwealth heads of government, for the first time, came together and offered new financial and political support to polio eradication for children in all countries and for future generations.

Mobilising $118 million for polio eradication, that particular summit has since been labelled by the WHO as a “turning-point” in the effort to eradicate the disease. And it’s easy to see why.

Four years on, there is much progress to celebrate, including India – a country where some said eradication was not possible – officially having been certified as polio-free. And, although progress remains fragile, Nigeria has almost gone a whole year without reporting a single case of the disease.

This is an unprecedented achievement that, for the first time, raises the prospect of a polio-free Africa.

Finally, major polio outbreaks in Syria, Iraq and the Horn of Africa have been successfully addressed with no cases being reported outside of endemic countries this year.

With Malta in the chair, the Commonwealth can make the complete eradication of polio a global priority

Thanks to such progress, the world has never been in a better position to take action to eradicate polio.

We now have a narrow window of opportunity to build on this success and stop polio once and for all. While this requires the support of all countries, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat – as host of CHOGM 2015 – is uniquely positioned to ensure the international community follows through on its financial and political commitments to finish the job.

That’s why we at the Global Poverty Project have invited him to join us onstage at the Global Citizen Festival in New York in September, which draws a global audience of millions.

As world leaders arrive for the annual UN General Assembly to establish a new set of global goals for development, we hope the Prime Minister seizes the opportunity to announce that CHOGM 2015 will shine the international spotlight on polio and spur it on to its final conclusion.

Setting forth an ambitious agenda on polio aligns strongly with the chosen theme for this year’s gathering in Malta, ‘Adding global value’, because investment in polio eradication will yield the ultimate return: future generations of children will be free of this devastating disease while the health of the world will long benefit from the programme’s knowledge and experience, as was demonstrated last year when the use of polio infrastructure enabled Nigeria to stop the spread of Ebola.

Additionally, achieving a polio-free world will reportedly reap financial savings of $50 billion over the next 20 years, proving what’s possible when the global community comes together to improve children’s lives.

But, perhaps, the biggest value in eradicating polio lies in its potential to reinvigorate public faith in other global health and development initiatives.

This is a critical year for anti-poverty efforts with the launch of the world’s most profound development goals that aspire to see the end of extreme poverty by 2030. It’s been said by Amina Mohammed, special adviser to Ban Ki-moon, that, at their core, these goals seek to ensure that “no one is left behind”.

In reaching children in the most remote, vulnerable and socially-excluded communities, the eradication of polio worldwide may very well provide the blueprint for achieving this noble ambition, thereby becoming one of the first key milestones of the new global goals.

We cannot take anything for granted. As we have seen through previous setbacks and outbreaks, achieving eradication will require every country to play a role. And as host of CHOGM in November, Malta can play a pivotal role in consolidating gains to date, urging a redoubling of efforts and, ultimately, taking the world one step closer towards the finish line.

Surely, the prospects of this, playing a part in potentially one of the greatest public health achievements of the early 21st century, is enough to excite even the greatest of CHOGM cynics.

Twitter: @micksheldrick

Michael Sheldrick is head of global policy and advocacy with the Australian-grown Global Poverty Project based in New York.