The tech giant's Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen, says his charitable foundation is donating $9 million to support the fight against the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, just a month after donating $2.8 million to the American Red Cross for its work on the outbreak.
The gift to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention comes at a time when international groups, including Doctors Without Borders and the World Health Organization, have said resources to contain the epidemic and treat those affected are falling tragically short.
Allen's donation joins that of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has pledged $50 million to United Nations agencies and other international groups to purchase supplies, such as protective gear for healthcare workers treating Ebola patients, and to expand the emergency response.
'The tragedy of Ebola is that we know how to tackle the disease, but the governments in West Africa are in dire need of more resources and solutions,' Allen said in a statement. 'The developed world needs to step up now with resources and solutions.'
Allen said the donation from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation will help CDC establish emergency operations centers in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, where the worst Ebola outbreak on record has killed about 2,300 people and shows no sign of slowing six months after it began.
U.S. President Barack Obama asked Congress for $88 million in new Ebola funding, including $25 million for CDC, but this week congressional leaders said they would provide no more than $40 million.
Allen said his foundation's gift would help CDC establish and equip emergency operations centers in the three most-affected countries, focusing on public health, not patient care.
The centers will use 'data management and communication systems for disease and patient contact tracing, to detect and stop the disease from spreading,' Allen said.
They will also expand lab testing to identify new outbreaks, and disseminate information about the epidemic to the public.
'A winnable battle should never be lost,' Allen said.
My daddy and my uncle!
ReplyDelete