China's president pledges $81 million to help fight Ebola in West Africa

China's president on Friday pledged to provide $81 million in aid to help fight Ebola in the three West African countries at the heart of the crisis.

President Xi Jinping made the announcement in a meeting in Beijing with the visiting president of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The 500 million yuan ($81 million) will be used for emergency goods, to help set up a treatment center in Liberia, and to send additional Chinese medical staff and quarantine experts to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

China has already sent nearly 200 medical staff to West Africa and provided other humanitarian aid. In August, it delivered aid worth 30 million yuan (almost $5 million), according to authorities.

China, the world's No. 2 economy, is beginning to make larger contributions to international aid efforts. China is also Africa's largest trading partner.