October 14, 2014 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Mark Zuckerberg has pledged $25-million to help combat Ebola. The money will go to the Centers for Disease Control Foundation, the Facebook founder and philanthropist said on his Facebook page.
“The Ebola epidemic is at a critical turning point,” Mr. Zuckerberg said. “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.”
The Ebola outbreak needs to be brought under control quickly so that it doesn’t become a “long-term global health crisis” on the scale of HIV or polio, he said.
“Grants like this directly help the frontline responders in their heroic work,” Mr. Zuckerberg said. “These people are on the ground setting up care centers, training local staff, identifying Ebola cases, and much more.”
The Silicon Valley entrepreneur joins a short list of philanthropists who have made major gifts to combat the Ebola outbreak, which started in Guinea in March and spread throughout West Africa.
Earlier this month, the virus hit the United States when a man who had traveled from Liberia to Dallas, Tex., became sick and died. A nurse who helped care for him has also fallen ill.
Experts describe the philanthropic response in the early months of the outbreak as modest, although there have been some big donations. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $50-million to U.N. agencies and others. The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation gave $9-million to the CDC, $2.8-million to the American Red Cross, and $100,000 in matching funds to the online-giving platform Global Giving. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation gave $5-million to several international health organizations.
Mr. Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, a pediatrician, ranked No. 1 on the Chronicle’s most recent Philanthropy 50 list of most generous donors.
