The World Bank on said Monday that it would provide up to $200m in emergency assistance to Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia to help the West African countries contain the deadly outbreak of Ebola virus which has claimed the life of
887 people since it outbreak in March this year. The President of the World Bank Jim Yong Kim, who is an expert on infectious diseases, said he has been monitoring the spread of the virus closely and was "deeply saddened" at how it was contributing to the breakdown of "already weak health systems in the three countries".
He added that the funding will help provide medical supplies, pay healthcare staff, and take care of other priorities to contain the deadly epidemic and possibly try to prevent future outbreaks. The announcement came as health centers in Liberia's capital city of Monrovia shut down because medical personnel became too afraid to turn up for work, because both in Liberia and Sierra Leone top doctors has been lost who dedicated their time and intellectual to carter for those infected with the virus. Previously healthcare personnel in Liberia have continue to lament not receiving sufficient support from the government to be able to deal with possible Ebola patients who walk through their doors on daily basis.
"The health workers think that they are not adequately protected, and lack the requisite material to protect themselves against the Ebola disease, so many of the health workers including physician's assistants, nurses, are now staying at home," said Amos Richards, a physician's assistant from Monrovia. The Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf had Earlier held a crisis meeting with the health ministers on Sunday to discuss a series of anti-Ebola measures, and on a press release, Tolbert Nyensuah the deputy health minister, said the government was doing its best to gather bodies as quickly as possible for possible crimination and the government had purchased land from a private citizen and that land will be used to bury the bodies, He said 30 bodies were buried over the weekend in a mass grave outside the city. With the pledge from the World Bank, hope comes alive for those west Africa country who lack the resources to contain the epidemic.
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