Israeli aid on way to fight Ebola spread

ISRAEL21c-In response to urgent pleas from the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the U.S. government and other countries, Israel is sending more than a million shekels' worth of medical equipment, as well as expert personnel to fight the spread of the African Ebola epidemic that has claimed 3,400 lives since March and has infected almost 7,200 people.

Gil Haskel, deputy director general of MASHAV-Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation of the Foreign Ministry, told ISRAEL21c that many international groups-including IsraAID, the Israel Forum for International Humanitarian Aid-are already working in the affected countries of West Africa to treat patients stricken by hemorrhagic fever caused by the virus.

Earlier this week, Israel's Defense Ministry told the U.S. and U.N. that it could not fulfill a request to send IDF field hospitals to Liberia and Sierra Leone, out of concern for the safety of Israeli health workers. MASHAV is answering a different but just as pressing need: prevention.

"Our idea was to exercise Israel's experience in emergency preparedness in countries that border on those already struck with the epidemic, so as to prevent Ebola from spreading further into Africa," Haskel explained.

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