Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla have donated $25 million to the Centers for Disease Control Foundation to help fight Ebola, an epidemic which Mark said was at a critical turning point with a second health worker testing positive for Ebola in Texas US.
According to a report by the BBC, “the UN’s Ebola mission chief says the world is falling behind in the race to contain the virus.The World Health Organization (WHO) says 4,447 people have died from the outbreak, mainly in West Africa.
“Ebola has infected 8,400 people and is 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,” said Zuckerberg. “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.”
Zuckerberg says the grant is the quickest way to empower the CDC and the experts in this field to prevent this outcome. According to the BBC, to avoid Ebola, avoid direct contact with sick patients, wear goggles to protect your eyes. Ebola patient’s clothing and wastes should be incinerated and any medical equipment that needs to be kept should be decontaminated.People who recover from Ebola should abstain from sex or use condoms for three months.”
Zuck and Priscilla join Bill and Mellinda Gates who pledged $50 million towards the epidemic as well as the GE Foundation which pledged $1.7 Billion towards the cause.
In 2013, Zuck and Priscilla pledged $992.2 million in Facebook shares to Carlifonia’s Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
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