The European Union on Tuesday pledged an additional €16.5 million ($18 million) to help tackle the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
This includes testing equipment worth €5 million, as well as financial contributions of €5 million to the World Health Organization (WHO) to support surveillance and access to supplies including protective equipment.
Another €6.5 million are to go to an initiative by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) to help equip frontline workers.
"This is about more than containing a virus. It is about proving that when lives are at stake, the world can still come together and act," said EU Crisis Commissioner Hadja Lahbi after meeting frontline health workers in Congo.
"Health security is a shared responsibility: viruses do not stop at borders; they do not care about politics," she said.
The death toll of the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has risen to over 100, officials said on Tuesday. Ebola is a life-threatening disease. The virus is transmitted through physical contact and contact with bodily fluids.
In May, the European Commission announced humanitarian assistance worth €15 million for the regions affected by the Ebola outbreak.
