Australia has pledged $7m to those fighting Ebola, including the World Health Organisation and Médecins Sans Frontières
Australia has significantly boosted its commitment to fighting the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, pledging a further $7m in aid.
The Abbott government announced the funding on Wednesday, just hours after the US president, Barack Obama, called for a global response to the outbreak he warned was “spiralling out of control”.
The foreign minister, Julie Bishop, said $2.5m would be given to the World Health Organisation and $2.5m to Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders). Another $2m will be given to Britain to help its efforts to combat the disease in Sierra Leone. It brings Australia’s total contribution to $8m.
The UN has said nearly $US1bn ($A1.08bn) will be needed to beat back the worst outbreak of the disease.
The Ebola epidemic has killed more than 2,400 people in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone this year, and the UN predicts it could infect 20,000 people by the end of the year.
The US will send 3,000 military personnel to West Africa to combat the outbreak, which Obama said was spreading “exponentially”.