Facebook has announced that it will match $20 million in contributions to coronavirus response funds launched by the United Nations Foundation and the CDC Foundation. 

"Facebook is matching up to $10 million in donations [to the UN Foundation fund], and 100 percent of funds will directly support the work to prevent, detect, and respond to the outbreak around the world," Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post on the social media platform. "We'll also match $10 million for the CDC Foundation, which will launch a fundraiser in the next few weeks focused on combating the outbreak here in the U.S."

Launched in partnership with the UN Foundation, the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation, and the World Health Organization, the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund will support WHO's global effort "to track and understand the spread of the virus; to ensure patients get the care they need and frontline workers get essential supplies and information; and to accelerate efforts to develop vaccines, tests, and treatments." Google has pledged $5 million to match donations to the fund on a two-to-one basis.

The CDC Foundation also launched a crowdfunding campaign last Thursday in support of its Emergency Response Fund.

"We are at a critical point in the global response to COVID-19 — we need everyone to get involved in this massive effort to keep the world safe," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. "We are immensely grateful to the UN Foundation and the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation for coming forward to help us set up this fund. A lot of people and institutions have been saying they want to contribute to the fight against the novel coronavirus. Now they can."

(Photo credit: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention via Unsplash)