EU pledges $180m Ebola Aid
European Union on Friday pledged 140 million euros ($180 million) to boost the fight against Ebola in West Africa, where the death toll in the worst outbreak on record has passed 2,100 people.
More than six months into the crisis, the disease is spreading faster than ever and organisations across the world are scrambling 
cash and supplies to the region. But the World Health Organisation (WHO) said the lack of trained staff was hobbling the response.
“The situation is going from bad to worse,” said Kristalina Georgieva, the EU commissioner responsible for humanitarian aid. “We are helping make a difference on the ground but the needs are outpacing the international community’s capacity to react.”
The outbreak was first confirmed in Guinea in March and has since gripped Liberia and Sierra Leone. Cases have also been confirmed in Nigeria to the east and Senegal to the west, where a Guinean student has been isolated.
The EU funding will be used to strengthen health systems, train health workers and pay for mobile testing laboratories, highlighting how the disease has struck some of the continent’s poorest nations and exposed the fragility of their medical care.
Over 97 million euros will be spent on budget support to Liberia and Sierra Leone in order to help them deliver public services, including health care, and maintain macroeconomic stability, the European Commission said in a statement.
The WHO last month announced a strategic plan to contain the epidemic over the next nine months, during time which it expects 20,000 people will have contracted the disease.
The United Nations said this week $600 million would be needed to fight the outbreak and an Ebola crisis centre would be set up to coordinate the response.
(Reuters)