Mr. Speaker, I can assure the member that the Public Health Agency of Canada is in contact with all departments that have the ability to respond. I thank her for her support of tonight's donation to the WHO. It will strengthen the field response on the ground.
I want to reassure Canadians about what has been a very sustained and progressive response by the Canadian government in the fight against Ebola.
We have had very close contact with the WHO. We have been working very closely at the Public Health Agency of Canada with those at the WHO in the response. We have not only donated millions to help the WHO to strengthen its own field response, we now have donated close to $2 million to support humanitarian interventions led by Doctors Without Borders. We are also supporting the Red Cross in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone through its emergency disaster assistance fund. As well, we are supporting the WHO through its international health grants program to support more assistance for its operational costs in West Africa.
The Public Health Agency of Canada has been at the forefront working with the WHO with technical expertise, whether it is giving advice to those working on this issue through the expertise of our microbiology lab in Winnipeg or deploying a team of scientists in a mobile lab from Winnipeg to Sierra Leone to contribute to efforts to stop the Ebola outbreak. We had a team before which just came back to Canada. We deployed a new team last week and it is on the ground helping to test samples submitted by local health authorities. That does a great deal in helping the public health capacity in those local regions.
The experimental vaccine is something new and very promising, but there is a lot of hope that we can work with the international community to either ensure that the vaccine is available and that we continue to do the proper research necessary to ensure if it is safe and effective, that it is something we can use in the future. It is ready to transport when necessary.
We are on the ground now supporting those communities that are being affected immediately with the resources they need. We are also looking and involved in meeting the long-term research and capacity building to help those communities in a way that they need most.