盖茨基金会向非洲伸出援助之手
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has promised to donate $50 million to United Nations agencies and other international groups to purchase supplies to fight against the deadly outbreak of Ebola in West Africa. “It became clear to us over the last seven to 10 days that the speed and area of the epidemic（流行）was increasing significantly,” said Chris Elias, president of global development for the world’s largest charitable foundation.
The Seattle-based foundation said the money will go to the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and international organizations involved in fighting transmission of the virus. The money will be used to purchase supplies and to develop vaccines, therapies and better diagnostic tools.
“By fighting Ebola now, we can make sure it doesn’t become an endemic（地方病）in West Africa,” Gates tweeted on Wednesday.
The foundation wants to help stop the outbreak as well as accelerate development of treatments and improve prevention. Elias said foundation officials have been talking to its partners around the world to work out the best use of its dollars and could not say yet how much would be spent on the emergency response and how much on research and development.
Global health and development lead the work of the foundation, which has given away $30 billion since 1997. The foundation formed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his wife reported an endowment（捐赠基金）worth $40billion as of March 2014.
The $50million includes $10million the foundation previously committed（致力于）for emergency operations, treatment and research. Of that money, $5million went to the World Health Organization for emergency operations and research and development. Another $5million went to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF to support efforts in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea to purchase medical supplies and disseminate information.
Some of the $50million will support strengthening existing health care systems in the countries affected by the outbreak, the foundation said.
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