The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced Wednesday it will donate $50 million to help fight the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
The foundation says the money will be used to enable international aid organizations and national governments “to purchase badly needed supplies and scale up emergency operations in affected countries.”
It will also “work with public and private sector partners to accelerate the development of therapies, vaccines, and diagnostics that could be effective in treating patients and preventing further transmission of the disease.”
I – Word Understanding
scale up – to increase or improve
accelerate – to make something happen sooner / faster
II – Have Your Say
1. Most of the treatment options for Ebola patients, including the one given to two American aid workers,
have never been tested in humans. Is it ethical to use experimental treatments to treat ebola?
2. As the ebola virus continues to claim lives in West Africa, leaders around the world are hoping to keep the disease out of their countries mainly by issuing travel restrictions. How do you keep your country safe from ebola?
