A statement issued by the U.S.-based Foundation said it would immediately release “flexible funds’’ to UN agencies and international organisations involved in the fight against the Ebola Virus Disease.
It said the intervention would enable the international agencies and national governments to purchase badly needed supplies and scale up emergency operations in affected countries.
It added that the Foundation would work with public and private sector partners to accelerate the development of therapies and vaccines.
The Foundation would also work with partners on diagnostics that can be effective in treating patients and preventing further transmission of the disease.
The Bill and Mellinda Gates Foundation had previously committed more than 10 million dollars toward tackling the Ebola outbreak, including five million dollars to the World Health Organisation (WHO) for emergency operations.
It had donated five million dollars to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF to support efforts in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea to among other things, purchase essential medical supplies.
The Foundation, set up by the billionaire founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates to fight disease and poverty in poor countries, said it committed an additional two million dollars to the U.S. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
Meanwhile, the WHO said that the Ebola outbreak, which started in March, infected almost 4,300 people so far, killing no fewer than 2,300.
Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria and Senegal had been affected by the outbreak.
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