The Japanese government decided on Friday to deliver 20,000 protective suits by Air Self-Defense Force aircraft to Ebola-hit West Africa within days, the Foreign Ministry announced.
Japan plans to provide about 700,000 sets of protective gear upon the request from Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Mali, the added in a statement.
The first 20,000 sets will be transported to Ghana, where the headquarters of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) is based.
It is the first time that Self-Defense Forces plane will be dispatched to the region to help contain the Ebola virus outbreak. The delivery mission is part of USD 40 million in additional aid that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged at a UN General Assembly session in September.
Furthermore, Japan will provide emergency grant aid to international organizations for distribute the protective suits, the ministry said.
The Ebola virus disease, which was initially reported in Guinea in March, has spread to neighboring countries, with a total of some 16,000 cases and 5,700 deaths reported in the four countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).