By Caroline Chen
Aid organization Direct Relief had 100 tons of gloves, masks, medicines and gowns stockpiled in a California warehouse. Doctors fighting Ebola were calling from West Africa desperate for supplies.
Getting it there was the challenge. With airlines halting flights and borders closing to stop the disease from spreading, the nonprofit took matters into its own hands, chartering a Boeing 747 that left New York yesterday for Sierra Leone and Liberia. It’ll figure out how to pay the $500,000 bill later.
“Sometimes we need to do the work, then hope the financial support follows,” Chief Executive Officer Thomas Tighe said.
The shipment, the 11th one Direct Relief has sent to West African nations, is part of newly urgent efforts by agencies and governments to accelerate aid as estimates of the potential spread of the Ebola epidemic grow exponentially.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s model for a worst-case scenario, presuming no additional aid beyond current resources, shows 550,000 infected people by the end of January. Sierra Leone ordered residents to stay home under a three-day curfew while 28,500 volunteers go door-to-door in an education campaign.
Since the start of the outbreak, the virus has infected 5,357 people, killing 2,630, according to a Sept. 18 World Health Organization report. The disease has spread through five countries, accelerating in cities, including Monrovia, the capital of Liberia.
Read more at Bloomberg News »
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