World’s Finance Officials Pledge More Ebola Help

Nations at a World Bank meeting in Washington vow to send more aid quickly to countries battling Ebola.  They also promise medical evacuations for health care responders.

The pledges follow impassioned pleas for help from the presidents of three West African countries hit hard by the epidemic that has killed more than 3,800 people.
 
Speaking to the meeting by videoconference, the president of Sierra Leone said his country needs millions of dollars, hundreds of doctors and thousands of nurses to fight what he called "a tragedy unforeseen in modern times.''
 
The presidents of Guinea and Liberia made similar calls for help.  U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called for a 20-fold surge in international aid to fight Ebola.
 
The World Bank president, Jim Yong Kim, said more hospitals and health centers must be built quickly to ensure that West Africans can get the care they need in their own communities.
 
The United States and the United Nations say they'll guarantee medical evacuations for health care workers responding to the crisis, in an effort to ensure that enough doctors and nurses are willing to risk their  lives to help stop the disease.