Dangote donates $3m to AU’s Ebola fund

Aliko Dangote has pledged a sum of $3 million to a fund established by African business leaders in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The pledge was in response to the call by chairperson of African Union, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, for $30 million from Africa’s private sector to support AU’s Ebola Outbreak in West Africa Initiative.

Through his foundation, Dangote had spent about $5 million in Nigeria to evolve a two-pronged strategy for directly supporting the Nigerian government’s Ebola containment efforts, through investments that strengthen Nigeria’s health system in a manner that would endure beyond the current Ebola crisis.

The AU’s Ebola Outbreak in West Africa Initiative is poised to send 1,000 African health workers, including doctors, epidemiologists, nurses, and lab technologists to join ongoing efforts to stop the devastating Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Experts had identified the shortage of professional and trained health workers on the ground to be one of the key factors limiting Ebola containment efforts in the three countries.

Dangote commended fellow business leaders for their speedy response to AU’s call and encouraged more business leaders and the general public to contribute to the fund.

“Ebola continues to devastate and take away lives in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. There must be no let-up in urgently matching solidarity and moral support with faster and more strategic actions. None of us can sleep easy until Ebola is contained,” Dangote said, applauding all those working on the frontlines to contain Ebola – the health care workers, those tracking and tracing contacts, those ensuring that Ebola victims receive dignified burials, and others.

“I want to use this opportunity to thank each and every one of you around the world for playing heroic roles. I commiserate with the families of your colleagues who have made the supreme sacrifice while fighting Ebola. I thank and applaud all the African volunteers who will be part of the AU initiative.”

The fund would be hosted and administered by the African Development Bank (ADB). Donald Kaberuka, the president of ADB, and Carlos Lopes the executive Secretary of UN Economic Commission for Africa, joined the AU and the business leaders to establish the fund.

The fund will enable immediate deployment of medical personnel to the three affected countries.

In Nigeria, Dangote foundation supported the establishment of the National Ebola Emergency Operations Centre in Lagos and donated 3,800 pieces of protective clothing for use by health workers across the country.

As at Friday November 7, 2014, some 13,241 people had contracted Ebola and 4,950 had lost their lives to the disease worldwide.