HH Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, King of Saudi Arabia has extended a grant of US$35mn to help fight Ebola in West Africa
Ahmed Mohamed Ali, president of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) confirmed that HH Al Saud had initiated the programme to help reduce the spread of the deadly virus in West Africa.
According to IDB, the grant would be used to provide schools with thermal sensors and medical examination equipment designed to diagnose the disease, facilitating treatment and preventing its spread. The equipment will allow governments to open schools for the current academic year. Students would be examined at the entrance to ensure they have not contracted the disease.
The thermal sensors and medical examination equipment would also be provided at airports, railway stations and bus stations.
Specialised treatment centres would be established in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. These centres would receive serve suspected cases from schools, hospitals, public transport carriers, and crowded areas for further medical tests.
In addition to the three endemic nations, the grant would also help establish a specialised treatment centre in Mali, where Ebola appears to have broken out but is not widespread. The centre will help the country’s health authorities cope with potential epidemics in the future.
