Earlier this morning, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan announced plans to donate $25 million to the Centers for Disease Control Foundation to help fight Ebola. “The Ebola epidemic is at a critical turning point. It has infected 8,400 people so far, but it is spreading very quickly and projections suggest it could infect 1 million people or more over the next several months if not addressed,” Zuckerberg said in a statement posted to his Facebook page. “We need to get Ebola under control in the near term so that it doesn’t spread further and become a long term global health crisis that we end up fighting for decades at large scale, like HIV or polio.” The Facebook CEO also called out the heroic work of the frontline responders.
Presbyterian Hospital tested positive for Ebola. The healthcare worker, who had treated an Ebola patient who died at the hospital, is the first person to contract the disease inside the United States and apparently wore protective gear while caring for the patient.
Yesterday, Dr. Tom Frieden, the director of the CDC, reportedly said that it was not known how the nurse had been infected, only that a “breach in protocol” for treating a patient happened. He also said that the U.S. needed to rethink how it “addresses infection control.” The 2014 Ebola epidemic is the largest in history, according to the CDC, affecting several countries in West Africa, most especially Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
Zuckerberg, who at age 30 is already among the top philanthropists in the U.S. as measured by 2013 giving, joins a growing cadre of wealthy individuals who have donated to stop the spread of this disease. On September 10, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced it was immediately giving $50 million to the United Nations agencies and international organizations involved in the response to help them and local governments buy supplies and build up emergency operations in affected countries. His Microsoft Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen has also been quick to respond, giving $20 million to fight Ebola and launching the Tackle Ebola campaign. “A winnable battle should never be lost,” said Allen, “Now is the time to respond to this crisis with the speed and resources needed to support all who are working hard to contain, and ultimately tackle, this horrible disease.”
Africa’s richest person, Aliko Dangote, and other wealthy tycoons in Nigeria were also quick to respond, donating money to help stop the spread of the disease in Nigeria and elsewhere. Nigeria has nearly eradicated Ebola in its country and could soon be declared Ebola free.
Here is a copy of Zuckerberg’s full statement:
Priscilla and I are donating $25 million to the Centers for Disease Control Foundation to help fight Ebola.
The Ebola epidemic is at a critical turning point. It has infected 8,400 people so far, but it is spreading very quickly and projections suggest it could infect 1 million people or more over the next several months if not addressed.
We need to get Ebola under control in the near term so that it doesn’t spread further and become a long term global health crisis that we end up fighting for decades at large scale, like HIV or polio.
We believe our grant is the quickest way to empower the CDC and the experts in this field to prevent this outcome.
Grants like this directly help the frontline responders in their heroic work. These people are on the ground setting up care centers, training local staff, identifying Ebola cases and much more.
We are hopeful this will help save lives and get this outbreak under control.
To learn more about the fight against Ebola: http://www.cdcfoundation.org/ebola-outbreak
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