Health and Science

World Bank pledges $170M to fight Ebola

The World Bank on Thursday announced it would give another $170 million to help West African countries contain the spread of the Ebola virus, nearly doubling its total contributions to fight an epidemic that has killed nearly 3,000 people.

Medicins Sans Frontieres health workers at an isolation camp in Liberia during the visit of the UN Ebola systems coordinator, Aug. 23, 2014.
Reuters

The funds, which must still be approved by the bank's executive board, will be used for increasing the healthcare workforce, buying supplies and building stronger health systems in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, which have been hardest hit by the disease.

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The World Bank, a poverty-fighting institution based in Washington, had previously approved $230 million for the three countries, where resources and health systems have been strained by the worst outbreak of the virus since its discovery four decades ago.