British Medical Journal
07 February 2015(vol 350, issue 7994)
http://www.bmj.com/content/350/7994

Analysis
International donations to the Ebola virus outbreak: too little, too late?
BMJ 2015;350:h376 (Published 03 February 2015)
Karen Grépin examines the pledges made to the Ebola crisis, how much has actually reached affected countries, and the lessons to be learnt
…In this article, I examine the level and speed of the international donations to tackle the Ebola epidemic and how they aligned with evolving estimates of funds required to bring the epidemic under control. Understanding what has and has not worked well in the early phases of this crisis can help us learn from it and prepare for future humanitarian and public health emergencies. My analysis considers only international donations captured in the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ (OCHA) financial tracking system (http://fts.unocha.org, box), which does not capture all resources that have been pledged to the outbreak…
Key messages
:: Pledges to the Ebola outbreak have reached at least $2.89bn
:: However, only about one third of these resources have been be disbursed to countries
:: Delays have occurred in requests for funding and translating pledges into paid contributions
:: New mechanisms to speed up disbursements could help in future crises