Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

Ebola outbreak response: a breakdown of the key funding pledges .. bits ..

From UN member states to NGOs, the African Development Bank and the private sector – the numbers revealed

• Australia (GDP $1.53tn)
The Australian foreign minister, Julie Bishop, announced on 2 October that the country will provide an additional $9.14m (A$10m; £5.5m) to the international response: “The government has assessed that, at this stage, financial contributions are the best and most efficient way Australia can make a rapid contribution to the global response and support frontline health services in the affected countries.” Australia has committed $9.97m (£6.2m) to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Médecins sans Frontières (MSF). This is in addition to the $1.93m (£1.2m) that Australia has already pledged to UK efforts.

• China (GDP $8.23tn)
China has sent more than 170 medical workers and given $4.89m in humanitarian aid. It has also been trialling experimental drugs that could be used to treat Ebola. In September, China dispatched a 59-member laboratory team to Sierra Leone and pledged a further $34m of aid to west African countries and international organisations. China’s ambassador to Ethiopia said Beijing would give up to $4m to both the World Health Organisation and the African Union.

• Norway (GDP $500.03bn)
Norway has pledged $28m to the UN, the Red Cross and other NGOs.

• US (GDP $16.24tn)
The US has committed $350m with the department of defence prepared to spend more than $1bn to control the outbreak. The US military has said it would deploy up to 4,000 troops to the region. It is sending 200,000 items of equipment, running a training centre in Liberia, and a staffing hospital for health workers.
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/oct/09/ebola-outbreak-response-breakdown-key-funding-pledges

While debate exists on the issue of quarantine of those returning from Ebola stricken countries there seems to
be no debate among experts that the most important measure is to get health workers to the countries and back.

"The best way to stop this epidemic is to help the people in West Africa," he added during an interview on NBC's Meet the Press. "We
do that by sending people over there, not just from the U.S.A, but from other places. We need to treat returning people with respect."

Fauci said that direct monitoring of those who may have been exposed to Ebola is a practical way of minimizing risk.

"Go with the science," he said.
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/fauci-returning-ebola-health-workers-shouldnt-face-draconian-rules-n234141

On those figures Norway with a GDP about one-third of Australia's has given roughly 2.5 times in financial terms. China has sent
170+ medical workers, Australia none. So? Well, it seems on the face of that Tony Abbott's Australia contribution sorta sucks.