Facebook joining the fight on Ebola

By Matt Bernard

Facebook joining the fight on Ebola
Facebook is beginning to rollout a donate button to raise money for Ebola treatment.

Having recently donated $25 million of his personal fortune to help combat Ebola, Mark Zuckerberg is now seeking to raise more for the movement by implementing a donate button which will be seen at the top of your news feed in days to come.

The button, which will stay active for one week, gives users the options to donate to three worthy causes: the International Medical Corps, the Red Cross and Save the Children.

As well as this, Facebook is also donating 100 wireless hotspots to the areas most affected in order to provide voice and data services to those serving on the ground.

While a worthy gesture, many have been skeptical as to just how much these increased donations will help end the outbreak, as there is a greater need for medical workers in Africa than anything else.

President of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, has stated that at least another 5000 healthcare workers are needed from other countries to help fight the disease.

“Right now, I’m very much worried about where we will find those health care workers. With the fear factor going out of control in so many places, I hope health care professionals will understand that when they took their oath to become a health care worker it was precisely for moments like this,” he said.

This campaign comes in light of Canada’s recent donation of $35 million to the fight, which included no medical workers sent to the scene.

So is the implementation of this button a worthy action to fight Ebola, or a weakly disguised public relations campaign? Would you like to see greater and more direct calls to action by corporations in the future, or is that not their responsibility?

Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below

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