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Minister of International Development Christian Paradis speaks at the United Nations in New York on Thursday, September 25, 2014.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

Canada pledged another $30-million to the fight against the Ebola outbreak in Africa on Thursday and welcomed a UN plan to co-ordinate the international response to the crisis.

International Development Minister Christian Paradis said the new money will be channelled through the Canadian Red Cross and other agencies.

The announcement came as U.S. President Barack Obama warned that the world has not done enough to fight a crisis that he said poses a grave threat to regional and global security.

"There is still a significant gap between where we are and where we need to be," Mr. Obama told a high-level United Nations meeting. The outbreak has the potential to become a major human catastrophe, he said.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim warned Thursday of a potential "meltdown" of the African continent. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said the number of cases doubles every three weeks. He wants almost $1-billion (U.S.) in aid over the next six months to tackle the outbreak.

Canada earlier contributed $5-million (Canadian) and hundreds of doses of an experimental vaccine to fight the deadly outbreak. Canadian specialists and mobile labs are on the ground in the infected region.

"As the number of cases continues to rise, it is obvious more needs to be done," Mr. Paradis told a news conference in New York. "We need to combat the disease as well as the fear that surrounds it if we are to be successful."

He said the international response needs to be better organized. "Canada continues to be deeply concerned by the inadequate co-ordination of efforts at this time. The specific role of the UN and other lead agencies such as the military and [non-governmental organizations] needs to be made clear."

He said the fallout from the disease will resonate for years.

"The economic and social impacts will be felt long after it's contained."

The World Health Organization says earlier Ebola outbreaks came in remote villages near tropical rainforests in central Africa, but the latest involves major urban areas in the west of the continent.

Ebola has killed 3,000 people in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, Senegal and Nigeria since the summer. It's considered the largest and most complex outbreak since the virus was discovered in 1976, with more cases and deaths than all the others combined.

With files from the Associated Press

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