Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg donates $25 million to fight Ebola spread

When a well known business leader gives a huge boost to a nonprofit that is looking to fight disease it’s never a bad thing and can lead to greater support from the public at large, let’s hope that’s the case as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg’s high profile decision to donate $25 million to the Centers for Disease Control Foundation to help fight Ebola was confirmed. I’m pleased to share that both before and after the donation nonprofits organizations involved/operating in West Africa are seeing a growing swell of support from the public throughout the world.

Dominating the headlines the last few weeks has been the threat and fear of the spread of Ebola, it’s a little sad that the attention only reached these levels when the first case landed on US soil but perhaps that says more about the media than our own sense of global compassion. Either way I think that the donation by Zuckerberg will not only help the research and logistics of combating the spread of the virus but will bring focus back to individuals who are wondering how they can help in a crisis that is expected to still escalate further.

Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page:

“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. 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.”

You can read the full text of his statement here.

The current Ebola epidemic is the largest in history although predominantly confined to Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone at present and has caused panic internationally in conjunction with a reassessment of what the policies of governments around the world should be. Far beyond those policies however is the urgent need to bring the disease under control and provide the support and infrastructure so sorely needed in some of the poorest nations on earth.

Mark Zuckerberg gave $970 million to charity in 2013

Zuckerberg, still just 30, is already among the top philanthropists in the U.S. based on 2013 giving. His important donation has captured the attention of the press but in truth sees him joining a large number of individuals at all levels of income who are looking to help stop the disease before things get far worse. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen gathered fewer headlines but also gave $20 million to fight Ebola and launching the Tackle Ebola campaign.

With something as complex as this there might be a tendency to wait and see what our governments will or won’t do but underlying that is the fact that the resources required to fight the disease are often underfunded, you can learn much more about how you can help at the CDC Foundation’s Ebola Outbreak page.

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