It is in our nature to label everything with a price tag and apparently Ebola has one too. On September 16, the cost for stopping Ebola was $987.8 million, 2 months later and that cost has risen to $6.18 billion if Obama’s request for emergency funds to combat ebola is a correct estimate.

Ebola Virus (Source: HuffingtonPost)

Besides the evident toll that Ebola has taken on the world, the international economy could become unstable from the effects of the virus. The countries that are financially secure enough to contribute to the cause are spending huge amounts of resources that may never be recouped and the countries where the disease is running rampant may have extreme difficulties returning to their past state.

Prior to the outbreak, Sierra Leone and Liberia were experiencing rapid economic growth with high expectations for Guinea as well. Any prospective projects that these countries had are being hurt by dwindling investor confidence. Their economy barely exists as it is with halts to trade, tourism and agriculture.

There is an extreme estimate of 1.4 million lives being at stake if this continues, not to mention a future at stake if the outbreak is not stopped soon. Pouring funds into the situation now will stop the situation from being drawn out or spiralling out of control, and will allow the world to start its recovery.