Back in November, we launched a campaign in Plague Inc. to raise funds and awareness for the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The campaign has been an enormous success and really shows how communities of video game players can come together and be a force for good - making a substantial, positive difference to an urgent, real-world issue.
Over 800,000 players have visited PlagueInc.com/StopEbola, and the Plague Inc. community has raised over $76,000* for charities across the world working to fight Ebola, such as the Red Cross, Disaster Emergency Committee and MSF.
"We'd like to thank the amazing Plague Inc. players for giving so generously to the DEC Ebola Crisis Appeal!" said Brendan Paddy, the Head of Communications for the Disasters Emergency Committee. "Your kind gifts will help our member agencies in the critical fight to stop the spread of Ebola. They'll use the donations to provide much needed educational support, hygiene kits and support medical treatment for those in urgent need."
“Thank you Plague Inc. players for your support and for helping to assist communities affected by Ebola." said Olaug Bergseth, Strategic Partnership and International Relations, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. "The Red Cross and Red Crescent is providing health services, preventative education, safe and dignified burials, contact tracing, survival kits and more."
Thank you so much to everyone who generously donated. I'm incredibly proud of what we have achieved together - we have made a real difference by supporting charities all over the world.
James
Facts about Ebola
Ebola is a serious and life-threatening disease - the current outbreak is the largest in history, and has impacted multiple countries in West Africa, with isolated cases spreading internationally. As of January 23rd 2015, the CDC has reported over 21,000 total cases of Ebola, with total deaths at 8,690.
Although progress has been made, there is still a long way to go and the world must not become complacent. It continues to directly threaten the lives and livelihoods of many people across the world.
For more information on Ebola, go to the CDC’s information page.
Why Plague Inc. was in a position to help
The current Ebola outbreak is highly concerning. Recent cases triggered a huge amount of public interest in the spread of infectious disease - as you would expect, this was reflected in increased attention towards Plague Inc. There was a notable rise in downloads and player numbers late last year when the Ebola outbreak was very widely-reported – weekly downloads rose by 52% to 430,000, and weekly players increased by 1 million to a total of just under 4 million (10th - 16th Oct 2014 compared to 26th Sept – 2nd Oct 2014). This was the first time that real world events influenced Plague Inc. downloads.
Plague Inc. has been out for over two and a half years and doesn’t include Ebola but its realistic infection models do let it engage and educate players on important issues linked to the outbreak.
From November - December 2014, we displayed a link to www.PlagueInc.com/StopEbola to everyone who opened the game. This link redirected players to an Ebola-specific donation page for a charity in their country, giving them more information about that charity and their work, along with the impact that their donation would have.
You Can Still Help
Go to www.PlagueInc.com/StopEbola now to donate to charities fighting Ebola.
Please note, Ndemic Creations is not officially partnered or affiliated with any of the charities that players can donate to. It is raising awareness and sharing details of charity pages where people can make individual donations to charities.
*Total funds raised is an estimate based on available data from over 15 charities worldwide and current exchange rates.