Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan announced plans today to donate $25 million to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control Foundation to help fight Ebola.
“The Ebola epidemic is at a critical turning point. It has infected 8,400 people so far, but it is spreading very quickly and projections suggest it could infect 1 million people or more over the next several months if not addressed,” Zuckerberg said in a statement posted to his Facebook page.
“We need to get Ebola under control in the near term so that it doesn’t spread further and become a long term global health crisis that we end up fighting for decades at large scale, like HIV or polio.”
“We believe our grant is the quickest way to empower the CDC and directly help the frontline responders in their heroic work. These people are on the ground setting up care centers, training local staff, identifying Ebola cases and much more.”
“We are hopeful this will help save lives and get this outbreak under control.”