European Union pledges $1.26 billion to fight Ebola

BRUSSELS, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- The European Union committed one billion euros ($1.26 billion) to combat the spread of the Ebola virus Friday.

The agreement came after Christos Stylianides of Cyprus was appointed Thursday as the coordinator of the 28-nation bloc's humanitarian aid programs. Stylianides, a physician, will oversee disbursement of the Ebola fund. The appointment comes after U.S. President Barack Obama named Ron Klain as the U.S. "Ebola czar," in charge of planning government agencies' response to the disease.

The EU funding is an upgrade from its plan to dedicate 600 million euros ($759 million) to the cause, and was decided upon at the EU summit in Brussels. The announcement, by EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy, comes as two new Ebola cases, in Mali and in New York City, were revealed, and a caution from the United Nations' World Food Program that the Ebola outbreak could lead to a food crisis in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Over 13,000 tons of food was delivered to 778,000 people in the three countries, most severely affected by the outbreak, but donors provided only half the funding the delivery required.