Funding to Fight Ebola: Not Too Little, but Definitely Too Late

Center for Global Development - cgdev.org -by Karen A. Grépin and Amanda Glassman - February 4, 2015

. . . In a new paper out today in the BMJ, Karen investigated the level and speed of the international response to the Ebola outbreak and contrasted it with the appeals made by international leaders to curb the spread of the disease. Contrary to widespread belief, Karen finds that, overall, the level of donations to the response were actually robust: as of December 31st, 2,104 donors had pledged almost $3 billion towards controlling the epidemic. Notably, this is actually larger than the official appeals for upwards of $1.5 billion. In addition, the data used underestimate total donations, in particular those given by the World Bank, which mobilized at least $1 billion in financing to help support affected countries.

However, the pace at which pledges were made to the epidemic and the speed at which resources were disbursed were slow, which likely allowed the epidemic to spread longer and may have contributed to overall higher costs to control. Few pledges were made until September and it likely took another month or so before any real resources arrived in countries. The slow speed can be explained by at least two delays: (1) by international leaders, especially the WHO, in appealing to the international community and (2) in the time it takes for resources to reach countries after a pledge is made.

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CLICK HERE - BMJ - Analysis - International Donations to the Ebola Virus Outbreak: Too Little, Too Late