MOSCOW, October 20 (RIA Novosti) - The World Food Programme (WFP) announced Monday that China contributed $6 million to the organization's emergency operation assisting 1.3 million people, impacted directly by the Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
“This [$6 million] substantial and timely contribution will be divided equally between the three countries, enabling WFP to purchase vital food supplies, mainly rice, lentils or yellow peas, and blended fortified cereals, for emergency rations for more than 300,000 people for one month, as well as specialized nutrition products to help prevent malnutrition,” the WFP report stated.
According to WFP, the food supply in the three most affected countries has been further declining because farmers are abandoning their crops and livestock and move to areas safer from exposure to the virus. Additionally, restrictions in free movement has increased food prices, not only in the three countries but in neighboring countries too.
Since April this year, WFP has provided food to about 530,000 people living in Ebola-hit countries, but the number of those affected has been on the rise with new Ebola cases reported daily.
The Ebola outbreak began in West Africa in March, with more than 9,000 cases and 4,555 deaths reported so far by the Health Ministries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organization. Senegal and Nigeria, which were also hotbeds of the disease, have just recently been declared Ebola-free by WHO.
The UN opened a fund to collect contributions to fight the outbreak from countries all over the globe, however, the $1 billion fund only received $100,000 from Colombia as of Friday. The rest came from UN agencies and nonprofit organizations, working in West Africa.
