Co-chair and Trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, speaks in New Delhi, India in November 2019 (AFP Photo/Money SHARMA) |
Washington (AFP) - The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged Wednesday to commit up to $100 million for the global response to the novel coronavirus epidemic that has claimed nearly 500 lives.
The funding
will be used to strengthen detection, isolation and treatment efforts, the
foundation said, including protecting at-risk populations and developing
vaccines and diagnostics.
"Multilateral
organizations, national governments, the private sector and philanthropies must
work together to slow the pace of the outbreak, help countries protect their
most vulnerable citizens and accelerate the development of the tools to bring
this epidemic under control," said Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman.
The amount
includes $10 million previously pledged in late January.
The
foundation said it would direct $20 million to organizations like the World
Health Organization, the US Centers for Disease Control and Protection, the
National Health Commission of China and the Chinese Center for Disease Control
and Prevention.
A further
$20 million would be allocated to help public health authorities in sub-Saharan
Africa and South Asia, regions which have been disproportionately affected by
recent epidemics like the H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic of 2009.
The foundation
also pledged up to $60 million to accelerate the discovery, development and
testing of vaccines, treatments and diagnostics for the virus.
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