Celebrities condemn global response to Ebola
A star-studded video from the One Campaign is demanding that the United States and several other international powers step up their “slow and uncoordinated” responses to the Ebola outbreak.
Actors Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon and Will Ferrell are among more than a dozen celebrities appearing in the video, which accuses world leaders of failing to adequately respond to the outbreak.
The video is entirely silent — with the tagline, “This is what waiting looks like.”
The silence of the video “highlights how the world waited for action to stamp out Ebola in West Africa, and how we cannot wait to invest in the health sector to prevent similar tragedies in the future,” the organization wrote in a release.
“The world’s initial response to the Ebola outbreak was a failure — global leaders waited too long to act, and thousands have paid with their lives,” the statement reads.
The video also marks the centerpiece of the One’s new Ebola campaign, which urges a more robust international response.
The organization launched a website on Wednesday called the Ebola response tracker, which records how many healthcare workers have been sent, the amount of money committed, what percentage of funds have been disbursed and where the funds go.
It also notes whether there are “clear budget sources” and deadlines attached to the commitments. One has warned that all donations to Ebola have lacked “clear timelines,” and millions of dollars in aid have yet to be received overseas.
The U.S. has pledged $572 million but only allocated 43 percent of the money, according to One’s website.
The video comes as national media coverage of Ebola has shrunk significantly since the midterm elections. Congress is still weighing a whopping $6.12 billion emergency funding request from the White House.
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