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Ebola Response: The Private Sector Steps Up

The Ebola epidemic in West Africa has raised a lot of difficult questions. Evaluating the tenor of the international response is a common focus by the media. By outlining how countries have contributed, it raises the issue of which countries are giving enough, and which have more work to do.  The epidemic has also raised further questions about global governance, regarding the role of WHO, the role of the UN, and what global health governance should look like.  Earlier this week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan announced their own $25 million donation to the CDC Foundation to strengthen international efforts against the epidemic. What’s notable about this donation is two things: not only is this donation larger than that of many countries, but it also underscores the private sector’s extensive involvement in combating Ebola. Some recent data from UN OCHA makes this clear.

To put this in context, UN OCHA tracks the total levels of funding and total pledged funding by donor. The Zuckerberg contribution of $25 million makes him the tenth largest donor, in between Canada ($31 million) and the Netherlands ($21 million). By way of comparison, the Zuckerberg contribution is larger than that of four advanced economies: France, Denmark, Korea, and Kuwait.

But to think that the private sector’s involvement is solely limited to that of the CEO of Facebook is a serious mistake. Foundations have been very active in the fight against Ebola, as shown in the table below.  This is also based on data from OCHA.

 

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation $50,000,000
Silicon Valley Community Foundation (Zuckerberg) $25,000,000
CIF Foundation $20,000,000
Paul G. Allen Family Foundation $18,500,000
IKEA Foundation $6,719,366
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation $5,000,000
Open Society Foundation $4,000,000
TOTAL $129,219,366

 

Taken together, the private sector has accounted for more than $150 million in pledges and contributions. By way of comparison, this makes the private sector the fourth largest donor, between the United Kingdom ($210 million) and the African Development Bank ($63 million).

The extensive involvement of the private sector in the fight against Ebola, while impressive and sorely needed, raises larger questions.  First, could the private sector is aggravating the issue of burden sharing? Seeing the strong and immediate response of the private sector might be a factor in explaining the reticence of some countries to contribute. This is especially the case given the problems that the UN trust fund on Ebola is facing in raising money. Second, we are also left wondering about the response of the private sector over time. The cyclicality of foreign aid has long been noted as a problem; countries provide aid to others in crisis, but then downscale their aid when the crisis is over. But this poses a problem, because the economy or the postwar peace is fragile, and this is exactly when outside assistance can help tip the balance for reform. Whether the private sector will be more or less cyclical is an important question that we will need to answer. Finally, while the private sector’s response to Ebola has been impressive and commendable, we should be wary of reading too much into this about the balance between public and private power in global governance. While the private sector has helped to stem the spread of Ebola, involvement in this one issue is no guarantee that these foundations will be major players in other international matters.

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