The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention_{질병관리본부} (KCDC) has decided to donate $1 million to support the Korea-WHO Emergency Response Fund to fight global infectious diseases.

The fund is aimed to make a prompt initial response, such as investigation, personnel mobilization, and product support, to the spread of infectious diseases.

KCDC Director Jung Ki-suck_정기석 and Michael Ryan, director of Global Alert and Response of World Health Organization will be at the signing ceremony at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Yongsan, Seoul.

The WHO Executive Board decided in January 2015 to establish the emergency fund, concluding that it failed to respond to the primary limitation of the operation of the WHO private fund in the wake of the spread of Ebola in West Africa nearly a year earlier.

After the approval of the $100 million funding goal by the WHO General Conference in May 2015, WHO’s secretary-general requested funding from the Korean government in February 2016. The government decided to donate $1 million and formulated a supplementary budget.

Many other countries have also contributed to the cause, including Japan ($10.8 million), Germany ($12.8 million), United Kingdom ($9.4 million), China ($200,000), France ($147,000), Sweden ($112,000), Netherlands ($112,000), India ($100,000), Canada ($146,000) and Estonia ($9,000).

KCDC will continue to contribute to the global health security by strengthening international cooperation to fight infectious diseases in the future and to raise its international status, an official said.