TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - One of Microsoft’s founders Paul Allen will make a donation of US$9 million (Rp106 billion) to support U.S. efforts to fight the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The donation will be given to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), international groups including Doctors Without Borders and the World Health Organisation (WHO), which mentioned the resources to contain the epidemic and treat those affected are falling tragically short.
"The tragedy of Ebola is that we know how to tackle the disease, but the governments in West Africa are in dire need of more resources and solutions. The developed world needs to step up now with resources and solutions," Allen wrote in an essay as reported in Reuters yesterday.
Allen said the donation from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation would help the CDC establish emergency operations centres in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The three countries have the worst Ebola outbreak on record that has killed at least 2,300 people in the past six months.
On Wednesday, Bill Gates, also one of the Microsoft founders, promised a $50-million (Rp593 billion) donation to United Nations agencies and other international groups to purchase supplies as an effort for emergency response. The money is a collective result from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Both of these Microsoft founders have become prominent philantrophists. Allen and Gates have often gave donations to support worldwide scientific health and researches.
RINDU P. HESTYA | REUTERS
