Canberra, June 4 : The Australian government on Thursday committed funding to support the global response to the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa and prevent the spread of the disease.

Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and Minister for International Development Anne Aly said in a joint statement that Australia will provide 5 million Australian dollars (around 3.6 million US dollars) to the initiative.

"Australia's funding, directed through the International Federation of the Red Cross and the World Health Organization (WHO), will provide vital medical care and supplies, water and sanitation services, support outbreak surveillance and preparedness, and strengthen local health systems," the statement read.

There have been 344 confirmed cases of the disease and 60 deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as 15 cases and one death in Uganda in the ongoing outbreak, according to the WHO, reports Xinhua news agency.

The WHO said at a press conference in Geneva on Wednesday that with concerted efforts and coordination, the response to the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is catching up.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who just returned from a visit to the DRC, said he was very encouraged by the level of commitment he saw in the country. "What I saw gave me hope, although challenges remain."

Tedros said that in the DRC, 344 cases have been confirmed, including 60 deaths, in 24 health zones across three provinces, while the number of suspected cases has been reduced to 116 from over 1,000 last week.

Tedros said WHO's risk assessment remains unchanged: very high at the national level, high at the regional level, and low at the global level. "The outbreak had a big head start, and we're still behind, but under the leadership of the Government of DRC, we are catching up," he said.

Nonetheless, Tedros noted several challenges, which include scaling up laboratory and diagnostic capacity to reduce delays in case confirmation and support faster response decisions, contact tracing in the DRC, travel restrictions that are disrupting supply chains and hindering the response, community mistrust, and the fact that there are currently no licensed vaccines or specific therapeutics for the Bundibugyo ebolavirus strain.

/IANS