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The Obama administration will ask Congress for $6.2 billion in additional funding to combat the Ebola epidemic in West Africa and enhance protective measures inside the United States, the White House said in a statement, according to RIA Novosti.

In particular the funding will go towards a cross-agency effort to fortify domestic public health systems, contain the epidemic in West Africa, speed the procurement and testing of vaccines and strengthen global health security, according to the statement released on the White House website Wednesday.

Under the proposal, $2.43 billion will be allocated to the Department of Health and Human Services for domestic and international responses to the epidemic. Of that $1.83 billion will go to the Centers for Disease Control. USAID will receive $1.98 billion, and the Department of Defense and Department of State more than $100 million, to help in relief efforts in West Africa.

Another $1.54 billion will go to a contingency fund “to ensure that there are resources available to respond to the evolving situation.”

According to the WHO latest estimates, there have been a total of 13,567 reported Ebola cases, with nearly 5,000 having been killed by the virus. The majority of lethal cases have been concentrated in three western African countries: Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.