The World Bank Group's Board of Executive Directors approved on Wednesday a USD 285 million grant to finance Ebola containment efforts underway in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The World Bank Group which is based in Washington, D.C., said in a press statement that, the additional resources will "help communities in the three countries cope with the socioeconomic impact of the crisis and rebuild and strengthen essential health services." The grant is part of the nearly USD 1 billion previously announced by the World Bank Group for the countries hardest hit by the Ebola crisis.
The grant provides additional financing to the Ebola Emergency Response Project approved by the WBG's Board on September 16, 2014, including USD 72 million for Guinea, USD 115 million for Liberia and USD 98 million for Sierra Leone, the three countries most-affected by Ebola.
Today's announcement brings the total financing approved so far from the World Bank Group's International Development Association (IDA) and Crisis Response Window (CRW) for the Ebola response to USD 390 million.
The Statement quoted its president Jim Yong Kim whom said "With this additional financing, the World Bank Group is responding to the critical needs identified by the affected countries to step up their fight against Ebola." Kim reaffirmed that "this deadly outbreak is far from over, and the international community must continue to do everything we can to support these countries until we get to zero cases." The additional financing will enable the three countries to deploy additional national and international health workers, scale up community-based care and community engagement for early detection of suspected Ebola cases, more rapid confirmation of infection status, strengthened treatment and care, and safe burials to curb the epidemic, according to the statement.