The World Bank has announced that it is allocating $200m in emergency assistance to help West African countries contain the Ebola outbreak.
The money will be distributed to the governments of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea as well as to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The number of people killed in the outbreak has reached 887, the WHO says.
The World Bank’s announcement came as African leaders including 35 presidents discuss the crisis in Washington.
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim – an expert on infectious diseases – said that he was “deeply saddened” by the spread of the virus and how it was contributing to the breakdown of “already weak health systems in the three countries”. I am very worried that many more lives are at risk unless we can stop this Ebola epidemic in its tracks,” he said.
Paul Blake in Washington says that in the the short term, the money will be used to pay health workers, dispel rumours about the disease in local communities and address the immediate needs of getting sick people into health facilities.
Over the long term, Informations reveals that the funds will be used to help countries deal with the economic impact of the outbreak and to monitor the spread of the disease.
The package is now awaiting approval by the World Bank’s Board of Directors, though officials say the confirmation could come as early as this week.
The World Bank and International Monetary Fund say preliminary research suggests the epidemic is likely to shave one percentage point from Guinea’s economic output this year.
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