Google to donate up to $32.5 million to fight Ebola

That follows the $25 million Mark Zuckerberg donated to the CDC last month

Remember when Ebola was all we could talk about? Then the Democrats took a shellacking in the mid-term elections, and the media, which has the attention span of a gnat, got distracted and SQUIRREL!

So, like most things, just because our idiot media has moved on, it doesn't mean that something isn't a real problem. Not here, though. Because nobody who got Ebola in the United States actually died from it. In some parts of Africa, though? Yeah, still a huge issue. 

Thankfully, some of our Silicon Valley friends are coming to the rescue, with Google CEO Larry Page announcing on Monday, via a blog post, that the company has launched a new campaign to get people to donate in fighting the disease.

Google is also putting its own skin in the game, revealing that it will be donating $2 dollars for every dollar that is donated, until a total  of $7.5 million is reached. That is in addition to $10 million that the company will be giving to a bunch of nonprofits, including InSTEDD,International Rescue Committee, Medecins Sans Frontieres, NetHope, Partners in Health, Save the Children andU.S. Fund for UNICEF.

"These organizations are doing remarkable work in very difficult circumstances to help contain this outbreak, and we hope our contribution will help them have an even greater impact," said Page.

And, if that wasn't enough, Page also announced that his family foundation will also be giving another $15 million.

If you're counting, that's a total of $32.5 million that could potentially be donated to fighting Ebola. That number tops the $25 million that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg donated to the $25 million to the Centers for Disease Control Foundation last month. 

Google's health initiatives

It's not a shock that Google would donate to fighting Ebola. After all, this is a company that has a long history of involvement in health-related causes, including a smart contact lens for monitoring diabetes, as well as something called Baseline Study, which will involve the collecting of genetic and molecular information from a group of people.

The company recently purchased Lift Labs, the creators of an electronic device that improves the quality of life for those with Parkinson’s and essential tremor.

Google's biggest, and most ambitious, health-related project is Calico, company that was founded by Google just about a year ago, and whose was to take on the aging process. The focus was said to be on health and well being, particularly when it comes to aging and diseases associated with that process.

Calico recently teamed up with biopharmaceutical company AbbVie to create a $1.5 billion research facility dedicated to developing and testing anti-aging related drugs.

It may also not be a coincidence that Page has struggled with his  own  health problems, revealing last year that he is suffering from vocal cord paralysis, which affects his breathing and speaking abilities. 

(Image source: keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk)