As of Dec. 31, 2014, pledges to the Ebola outbreak reached at least $2.89 billion, yet only around two-thirds ($1.9 billion) has actually reached affected countries, finds a report published by The BMJ this week.
"These delays in disbursements of funding "may have contributed to spread of the virus and could have increased the financial needs," argues author Karen Grépin, Assistant Professor of global health policy at New York University.
Using international donations captured by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs' (OCHA) financial tracking system, she examined the level and speed of pledges made to the Ebola epidemic and how they aligned with evolving estimates of funds required to bring the epidemic under control.
On 23 March 2014, Guinea's Ministry of Health notified the World Health Organization (WHO) of a "rapidly evolving outbreak" of Ebola virus disease in the south eastern part of its country. Within a week of the notification, WHO sent an initial donation of protective equipment and other medical supplies to Guinea.
However, the first major appeal to the international community for funding did not happen until August, when WHO, along with the presidents of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, called on international donors to provide $71m to support the control of the outbreak.
On 16 September 2014, roughly six months after the start of the epidemic, the UN estimated that nearly $1bn in humanitarian assistance. By mid-November, the official request for funding was estimated at $1.5bn.
"Clearly, international leaders have found it challenging to estimate the financial requirements to tackle this rapidly spreading outbreak," says Grépin. "The problem has not been the generosity of donors but that the resources have not been deployed rapidly enough."
The data do not allow the speed of disbursements to be compared with that for other humanitarian crises, she explains, "but they do suggest that we need a mechanism to enable more rapid disbursement of funds to fight public health threats such as Ebola, such as a dedicated fund that could be rapidly deployed for any emergency."
"Monitoring and tracking donor responses to the epidemic, and how the money was spent, is important to improve our response to future public health threats," she adds. "Learning from this experience will help us to understand what worked and what did not in this epidemic and will also help us better assess funding needs in the future."
Explore further: WHO: Ebola response shifts to ending epidemic
More information: The BMJ, http://ift.tt/1F3nTKa
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As of Dec. 31, 2014, pledges to the Ebola outbreak reached at least $2.89 billion, yet only around two-thirds ($1.9 billion) has actually reached affected countries, finds a report published by The BMJ this week.
"These delays in disbursements of funding "may have contributed to spread of the virus and could have increased the financial needs," argues author Karen Grépin, Assistant Professor of global health policy at New York University.
Using international donations captured by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs' (OCHA) financial tracking system, she examined the level and speed of pledges made to the Ebola epidemic and how they aligned with evolving estimates of funds required to bring the epidemic under control.
On 23 March 2014, Guinea's Ministry of Health notified the World Health Organization (WHO) of a "rapidly evolving outbreak" of Ebola virus disease in the south eastern part of its country. Within a week of the notification, WHO sent an initial donation of protective equipment and other medical supplies to Guinea.
However, the first major appeal to the international community for funding did not happen until August, when WHO, along with the presidents of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, called on international donors to provide $71m to support the control of the outbreak.
On 16 September 2014, roughly six months after the start of the epidemic, the UN estimated that nearly $1bn in humanitarian assistance. By mid-November, the official request for funding was estimated at $1.5bn.
"Clearly, international leaders have found it challenging to estimate the financial requirements to tackle this rapidly spreading outbreak," says Grépin. "The problem has not been the generosity of donors but that the resources have not been deployed rapidly enough."
The data do not allow the speed of disbursements to be compared with that for other humanitarian crises, she explains, "but they do suggest that we need a mechanism to enable more rapid disbursement of funds to fight public health threats such as Ebola, such as a dedicated fund that could be rapidly deployed for any emergency."
"Monitoring and tracking donor responses to the epidemic, and how the money was spent, is important to improve our response to future public health threats," she adds. "Learning from this experience will help us to understand what worked and what did not in this epidemic and will also help us better assess funding needs in the future."
Explore further: WHO: Ebola response shifts to ending epidemic
More information: The BMJ, http://ift.tt/1F3nTKa
Medical Xpress on facebook
Related Stories
WHO: Ebola response shifts to ending epidemic
Jan 29, 2015
Health officials are now focused on ending the biggest-ever Ebola outbreak rather than just slowing the deadly virus' spread, the World Health Organization said Thursday.
WHO names Ebola response chief
6 hours ago
The World Health Organization said Tuesday it had appointed its assistant director-general Bruce Aylward to head its overall response to the deadly Ebola outbreak.
World Bank pledges $200 million to fight Ebola
Aug 04, 2014
The World Bank said Monday that it would provide up to $200 million to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to help the West African nations contain a deadly Ebola outbreak.
Ebola: timeline of a ruthless killer
Feb 01, 2015
Here are key dates in the current Ebola epidemic, the worst ever outbreak of the haemorrhagic fever which first surfaced in 1976 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Sierra Leone now has means to control Ebola epidemic: UN
Jan 10, 2015
Sierra Leone now has the means to curb the Ebola epidemic, the new head of the UN mission for the fight against the disease and a senior World Health Organization official said Friday.
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