EBOLA CRISIS PROMPTS WHO TO SETUP $100 MILLION EMERGENCY CONTINGENCY FUND

Following Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the Director General of World Health Organisation (WHO), Magaret Chan has announced in Geneva at the annual meeting, that WHO is setting up a $100 million contingency fund financed by flexible voluntary contributions to ensure they have the necessary resources available to immediately mount an initial response. She also said that she was putting in place a unified programme to help deal with health emergencies. In her words,
"I do not ever again want to see this organisation faced with a situation it is not prepared, staffed, funded or administratively set up to manage".
Margaret Chan said WHO has been overwhelmed by Ebola epidemic in West Africa and the demands were more than 10 times greater than anything else it had experienced.
She said Ebola shook the organisationto its core but hopes the reforms would help give it new relevance and empower it to lead in global health.
Margaret Chan says they will move forward on an urgent footing and she plans to complete any changes by the end of the year.