With the Ebola outbreak in West Africa still spiralling out of control as well as health agencies like Doctors Without Borders and the World Health Organization lamenting inadequate resources to contain the epidemic and treat those affected, international bodies and philanthropic foundations have upped their donations to the struggling campaign.
So far, the donations for the fight against the deadly outbreak which has claimed more than 2,200 lives, have crossed the threshold of $500 million, with the EU, World Bank Group, and USAID leading the international bodies while Billionaire entrepreneurs Bill Gates and Paul Allen at the front line of donations by philanthropic foundations.
The European Union said in the first week of September that it would commit 140 million euros ($181 million) to help strengthen medical systems in the affected countries, provide mobile diagnostic laboratories and help fund public services. The United States Agency for International Development similarly disclosed it would contribute $75 million to be used to add health workers and provide equipment and supplies.
Prior to the EU and US donations, the World Bank Group had pledged up to $200 million in emergency funding to help Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone contain the spread of Ebola infections, help their communities cope with the economic impact of the crisis, and improve public health systems throughout West Africa.
However, neither the African Union nor the Economic Community of West African States have made a financial donation to the fight, although some member states have made individual contributions. The AU recently established the mission of the African Union (AU) “Support to Ebola Outbreak in West-Africa” (ASEOWA) to which the European Commission donated €5 million. The ASEOWA will join the ongoing efforts to contain the spread of the disease in the region. The EU revealed that €2 million of the funding will come from EU support for fighting Ebola while the remaining €3 million will be provided through the so-called African Union Support Programme, an existing EU funding mechanism that provides technical capacity to the AU.
Philanthropic Foundations have also donated immensely to the battle against Ebola. This week the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation disclosed that it would immediately release $50 million funds to UN agencies and international organizations involved in the outbreak in order to “scale up” emergency efforts in affected countries. The foundation also donated $2 million to the CDC to assist them with their burden. Previous donations consisted of $5 million to the WHO and $5 million to UNICEF to buy medical supplies and fund support efforts in the region. This brings the US-based Foundation’s total contribution to date over $60 million.
The co-founder of Microsoft Paul Allen also announced on Thursday that his foundation is donating $9 million to support U.S. efforts to fight the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Last month, Allen’s foundation donated $2.8 million to the American Red Cross for its work on the outbreak, taking his total donation to close to $12 million.
Charity foundations of African billionaires have also joined in the fight with Aliko Dangote’s foundation leading the pack with $924,000 for the containing of the epidemic in Nigeria through the establishment of a National Ebola Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) in the affected city of Lagos. Africapitalist proponent Tony Elumelu also gave $617,000 to the battle to stop the outbreak, splitting the money into half with one part for Nigeria, and the other for Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
These donations, as well as several others by organizations and companies and countries, have already surpassed the $600 million that WHO had said it would to combat the virus. That amount now seems not enough given the admission by the WHO that the outbreak had been under-estimated. The world health body this week, predicted an “exponential increase” in infections across West Africa and warned that Liberia alone will face thousands of new cases in the coming weeks.
With more than 4,200 infections across the hardest hit countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone, the spiralling epidemic has led to the taking of drastic measures by the governments of the affected countries which include the States of Emergencies and Curfews. While neighbouring countries have closed border crossings, other countries have resorted to the suspension of flights to and from the affected countries with fears rife of further spread.
