Russia allocates over $60mln to fight Ebola in Africa

Russia has allocated more than $60 million to fight Ebola in Western Africa, Russian Presidential Special Representative for the Middle East and Africa Mikhail Bogdanov said in his address to a session of the World Public Forum - Dialogue of Civilizations.

Currently, Moscow is actively assisting Africans in healthcare and medicine, he said.

"Russia has donated a total of $100 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria," said Bogdanov, who is also a deputy foreign minister.

"We continue providing assistance in the fight against the Ebola virus disease. For the purpose, Russia has allocated more than $60 million to eradicate this dangerous disease in Western Africa," he said.

Besides, Bogdanov said that Moscow opted for a $5.5-million lump sum donation to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to help cover expenses of the campaign for vaccinating Angolans against Yellow Fever.

After the Ebola virus was discovered in 1976 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (or DR Congo, known as Zaire at the time), the disease outbreaks were documented in Sudan, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, Angola and Ivory Coast. In 2014-2016, when the fever was raging in Western Africa, more than 28,600 people contracted Ebola and over 11,300 of them died. Most deaths were reported in three countries - Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.