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Facebook's Zuckerberg donates $25M to fight Ebola

The CEO of the world's largest social network says the disease is at "a critical turning point" and needs to be addressed.

Ian Sherr Contributor and Former Editor at Large / News
Ian Sherr (he/him/his) grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, so he's always had a connection to the tech world. As an editor at large at CNET, he wrote about Apple, Microsoft, VR, video games and internet troubles. Aside from writing, he tinkers with tech at home, is a longtime fencer -- the kind with swords -- and began woodworking during the pandemic.
Ian Sherr
2 min read

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Mark Zuckerberg and his wife are donating $25 million to the Centers for Disease Control to combat Ebola. James Martin/CNET

Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, said he and his wife are donating $25 million to the Centers for Disease Control to help fight Ebola.

In a statement Tuesday on his Facebook page, the company's billionaire co-founder said he believes Ebola is at "a critical turning point" and that it is spreading quickly.

"We need to get Ebola under control in the near term so that it doesn't spread further and become a long term global health crisis that we end up fighting for decades at large scale, like HIV or polio," he wrote.

The gesture from one of Silicon Valley's richest citizens comes as the CDC is facing increasing concern over the disease. More than 8,000 cases of Ebola have been reported over the course of this latest outbreak. It has also spread to the US, where the first diagnosis, death and retransmission happened in just the past few weeks. US officials have also grappled with revelations that local hospitals are potentially ill-equipped to diagnose or even handle the disease.

The World Health Organization warned Tuesday that worldwide infections could hit 10,000 new cases per week within the next couple of months.

Zuckerberg said grants like his help front-line responders set up care centers and train local staff. "We believe our grant is the quickest way to empower the CDC and the experts in this field to prevent this outcome," he said.

Zuckerberg is among the wealthy who has pledged to give away half their wealth, part of The Giving Pledge program, which was founded by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.