Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan is reported to donate $25,000,000 to CDC to end Ebola virus that killed thousands of people in West Africa, and Eric Thomas Duncan who was the first Ebola patient died in the US soil.
In a Facebook post announcing the move, Zuckerberg said the current crisis is at a "critical turning point":
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.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.
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.
The money will be used by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Ebola response effort in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and elsewhere in the world where Ebola is a threat, the foundation said Tuesday.
It was also reported that Microsoft's Paul Allen donated $9 million to CDC too last week.
CDC Director Tom Frieden in a statement:
"The most important step we can take is to stop Ebola at its source. The sooner the world comes together to help West Africa, the safer we all will be,".
"This significant contribution from Mark Zuckerberg and Dr. Priscilla Chan will help us rapidly advance the fight against Ebola."
