The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is already a major cause of concern for many and efforts are being made not only to contain the outbreak but to develop a vaccine that is guaranteed to cure patients who have become infected with the virus. Many organizations and high profile individuals have already contributed resources for this cause, including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, and now the social network wants you to join hands in the fight against Ebola.
Facebook is capitalizing on its 1.3 billion-plus users around the world to generate funds for charities that are active on the ground in West Africa. Starting today a donate button will be published on top of users’ News Feeds and Facebook will request users to donate. Once they donate the news will be shared with their connects so as to spread the word.
Since they say that charity begins at home, this idea stemmed from Zuckerberg’s $25 million donation to the Centers for Disease Control Foundation last month to fight Ebola, as his post about this donation received over 300,000 likes.
The sheer scale of Facebook’s reach can generate a lot of money which will help this cause. The donate button will be live for about a week and Facebook users will be able to donate to three charities, The American Red Cross, the International Medical Corps and Save the Children.
Facebook will also use its ad service to target users particularly in West Africa with messages from the likes of UNICEF in order to educate them about Ebola. The company is also donating 100 wireless hotspots for first responders that are on the ground in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, which will provide voice and data services.
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