BN-DA110_0530zu_G_20140530021137.jpg (Photo : www.si.wsj.net)
Facebook users can now help in the battle against Ebola via the social media website's new donation button.
In addition, 100 satellite communication terminals will be deployed by Facebook to increase much needed phone and Internet services in West Africa, where Ebola's death count has almost reached 5,000.
The efforts being made follow the donation amounting to $25 million made by Mark Zuckerberg and his spouse, Priscilla Chan, to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just last month.
Facebook said that users will be able to see and click on a button that allows them to aid in the fight against Ebola and make a donation to three non-profit organizations.
The organizations include Save the Children, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the International Medical Corps.
Facebook said that the aforementioned groups were chosen because of their direct efforts in the affected areas, and that the groups are able to receive money from around the globe.
Additionally, the 100 satellite terminals are being donated by Menlo Park so that medical and other relief workers will get access to data and Internet services.
According to Chris Weasler, the head of Facebook's connectivity planning and spectrum policy, the terminals will also help Ebola-infected people in isolation and workers to continue communicating with their loved ones.
"These units will provide connectivity in places where there is no coverage," Weasler said.
Treatment centers are situated only at where the Ebola-inflicted people are, and in most cases, these places have no Internet coverage.
Facebook expects that more users will be able to help in raising money for the efforts against Ebola. Compared to donations for natural disasters such as the Haiti earthquake in 2010 and the Philippines' Typhoon Haiyan last year, Ebola donations are still lagging behind.
To date, $3.7 million Ebola aid has been raised by the American Red Cross. In comparison, the group accepted $486 million for the earthquake in Haiti and over $88 million for Typhoon Haiyan.
"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," wrote Zuckerberg on his personal Facebook page in October.
