Washington: The World Bank has approved $105 million grant on Wednesday to bolster the fight to contain the deadly Ebola virus epidemic raging in West Africa.
The funding is part of a $200-million World Bank pledge approved in early August to help Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea to contain the outbreak, which has killed more than 2,400 people in the region.
“The world needs to do much, much more to respond to the Ebola crisis in these three countries,” World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in a statement.
Liberia, the country with the highest number of Ebola infections, will receive $52 million, with Sierra Leone getting $28 million and Guinea $25 million.
The financing will allow governments to provide food and water in the quarantined and worst-affected areas and ferry in health workers, the Bank said.
The announcement came as the UN warned that almost $1.0 billion is needed to fight the outbreak, warning that 20,000 people could be infected by the highly fatal virus by year-end.
The Ebola outbreak, the most severe since the virus was first identified in 1976, has killed more than 2,460 people among the 4,985 cases identified, according to the latest WHO tally.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Wednesday announced a $50 million commitment to fight the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The foundation will donate the money to the UN and other international organisations working on the ground to curb the massive outbreak. The foundation will also help fund medical firms researching vaccines, treatments and technologies to fight the deadly disease.
The foundation said it will give $5 million to the UN’s World Health Organization, $5 million to the US Fund for UNICEF and $2 million to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Meanwhile, Microsoft Corp co-founder Paul Allen’s charitable foundation will be donating $9 million to support US efforts to fight the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
Apart from World Bank and the US, other countries have also landed helping hands too.
India
Last week, India announced that it would be donating $500,000 to help augment WHO’s fight against Ebola. The country has almost 45,000 citizens living in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, and has been proactive in preparing for an outbreak within India.
China
China will expand its medical staff in Sierra Leone – one of the worst hit country by Ebola – to 174, the United Nations announced Tuesday. Earlier this week, the Chinese government announced that it would send a further $32 million in aid to African nations and international organisations fighting Ebola, in addition to $4.8 million it had sent in August.
Britain
Britain recently announced that it would be sending its own troops and humanitarian experts to Sierra Leone to help fight the outbreak. While the exact number of troops was not revealed, it was said that they would help set up a 62-bed medical treatment facility in the country. The British government has committed $40 million to fighting Ebola so far, the UK Department for International Development announced last week.
France
At the beginning of September, France announced that it would be sending 20 specialists in biological disasters to help fight Ebola. As of August 28, the French Foreign Ministry had donated almost $200,000 to the “French Red Cross” to support the fight against Ebola in Guinea. Medical supplies were also being delivered to the affected countries, and the French embassy has been working with local authorities. France has supported the European humanitarian agency’s work against Ebola with more than $1 million in donations.
French development secretary Annick Girardin is also set to become the first European minister to visit the region since the outbreak began when she travels to Guinea to tour Ebola treatment units this weekend.
Germany
The German Foreign Ministry has established an action committee on Ebola and donated $1.81 million. The country’s development ministry has also supported related World Health Organization projects with $1.29 million. Public funding supports the work of Germany’s Bernard-Nocht-Institute in Guinea, which helps to diagnose and fight Ebola.
The European Union
The supranational European body has pledged almost $200,000 to help fight Ebola, and announced this week that Liberia and Sierra Leone will receive further financial assistance. The EU has also reportedly deployed mobile labs to the country’s worst affected to help with diagnosis and training.
Russia
In August, Russia announced that it would be sending a team of several dozen scientists to create a mobile laboratory in Guinea. At the time, the head of the immunology and virology laboratory at St. Petersburg’s Pasteur Scientific Research Institute, Alexander Semyonov, told reporters that Russian scientists had developed a vaccine for Ebola. Last week, Moscow agreed to work with Sierra Leone to fight the virus.
Canada
Canada announced it would be sending more than $2 million worth of medical equipment to West Africa on Tuesday. Canada had previously announced more than $3 million in donations to Médecins Sans Frontières and WHO, followed by a further $1 million. The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) also has a team of experts operating a mobile lab in Sierra Leone.
Israel
In September, Israel announced that it would be sending two doctors to Cameroon to help fight Ebola.
Cuba
Cuba announced this week that it would be sending 165 doctors and nurses to Sierra Leone to battle Ebola.
Turkey
On September 10, Turkey announced that it would be sending unspecified amounts of medical equipment to Gambia, which has yet to have a reported case of Ebola. Earlier in the year, Ankara had announced that it would send $50,000 to the country to help its fight against Ebola, and help with training medical staff in the country.
Brazil
In August, Brazil announced that it would be sending enough drugs to treat Ebola victims to affected countries. The drugs sent would treat 500 people for three months, Brazil’s government said in a statement. The country later held Ebola readiness drills in Rio de Janeiro.
The US
President Obama announced up to 3,000 US troops that will head to West Africa to lead the fight against Ebola. Officials say the effort may cost as much as $750 million in the next four months, which will be in addition to the $175 million already spent.
With AFP inputs