Canada to provide nearly $1.3 million to deal with Ebola outbreak

Canada is contributing nearly $1.3 million to help deal with the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which has killed at least 135 people in two countries.

International Development Minister Christian Paradis said it’s “critical to implement measures to end the chain of transmission.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) has been monitoring the current outbreak of the often-fatal illness since cases were first reported in Guinea in late March.

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The WHO reported 197 confirmed or suspected infections in Guinea and 27 cases in neighbouring Liberia. Health officials fear it could spread to other countries in the region.

The death toll from the Guinea outbreak reached 122 as of Wednesday, while Liberia has recorded 13 fatalities.

“Biological threats such as the current Ebola outbreak do not recognize borders,” Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Friday in a joint statement with Paradis and Health Minister Rona Ambrose. “They represent a global problem that requires coordinated international action across multiple sectors, including health and security.”

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Ebola, first documented in 1976 in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, is considered to be one of the world’s most dangerous diseases.

Symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, impaired kidney and liver function, as well as internal and external bleeding in some cases.

According to the WHO, about 90 per cent of people who become infected with Ebola die from the virus.

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The virus is passed between humans through contact with bodily fluids and secretions, it can also be transmitted by coming into contact with contaminated materials, such as soiled clothing or bed linen.

Health workers caring for infected patients are particularly at risk. At least 13 health workers in Guinea have died as a result of this outbreak.

The roughly $1,285,000 contribution — earmarked by the Dept. of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development and the Public Health Agency of Canada — will support the humanitarian efforts to control the outbreak, including the work of the WHO, the Canadian Red Cross and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.