WASHINGTON, October 10 (RIA Novosti) – The price tag to fight the deadly Ebola virus goes up every day, so any country or private sector group that would like to make a financial contribution should do it now, said World Bank Group President Jim Young Kim at the World Bank 2014 Annual Meeting on Thursday.
"What we are hearing [is] that we're already seeing an economic impact. That the stock values of travel companies and of airlines have already taken a hit and I can tell you that that will continue unless we get the adequate response in place," said Kim.
If Ebola is not quickly contained and spreads to neighboring countries, the two-year regional financial impact could reach $32.6 billion by the end of 2015, said Kim.
"We now know exactly what it will take not only to stop the virus but stop the aversion behavior that leads to this huge economic impact," he noted.
The World Bank announced today it is reaching out to countries around the globe asking them to send trained healthcare workers to Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, the three countries hit hardest by the Ebola epidemic.
The European Commission and the United States have both committed to medical evacuations of health workers and responders. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates Liberia alone is in need of 360 additional medical staff members from outside the country just to meet the current demand for treatment of those infected with Ebola.
The most recent Ebola epidemic surfaced in Guinea and spread out to the neighboring countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Senegal. According to the WHO, over 3,800 people have lost their lives to Ebola.
