US Charitable Aid Lags in West Africa’s Ebola Fight
Voice of America
Despite the U.S. government’s widespread effort to fight Ebola in West Africa, with thousands of troops and hundreds of millions of dollars, the private sector has shown little enthusiasm for charitable giving to the beleaguered region.
A few individuals and organizations have shown largesse. Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan recently pledged $25 million of the couple’s Facebook fortune to the CDC Foundation to combat the virus. Earlier, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundationcommitted $50 million to international efforts, and Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen’s family foundationdonated at least $20 million.
However, for most Americans, Ebola is "on our news radar, but it doesn’t seem to be on our philanthropic radar," said Patrick Rooney, associate dean of the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.
Since March, the virus ravaging West Africa has killed more than 4,500 and sickened at least twice as many, almost entirely in Guinea, Sierra Leone and especially Liberia. While recent infections in the United States have brought home the disease’s worldwide threat, to date “overall giving in this disaster has been pretty low – particularly by households and corporations,” Rooney said.
He and other experts attribute the tepid response to several factors: Americans’ limited familiarity with the continent, uncertainty about how best to help, and a perception among some potential donors that the U.S. government already is responding sufficiently on their behalf.
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