UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A United Nations committee has approved $49 million in funding for the global body’s unprecedented emergency mission to combat Ebola.

The General Assembly budget committee on Tuesday adopted a resolution supporting the U.N. secretary-general’s funding request, which is expected to cover operations through the end of December.

This is the first mission the U.N. has created in response to a public health crisis. The World Health Organization says Ebola has killed more than 3,400 people in West Africa and infected at least twice that many.

The Ghana-based mission has offices in the three Ebola-affected countries in West Africa: Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

The U.N. last week said it had lost its first staff member, a Liberian national, to “probable” Ebola.

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