PARIS (AFP) - World bank chief Jim Yong Kim said Friday that the world was "losing the battle" against the Ebola virus because of a lack of international solidarity.

"Certain countries are only worried about their own borders," he told reporters at the OECD headquarters in Paris.

He called that situation "very worrying".

Kim, however, praised the efforts of the United States, France and Britain.

The World Bank recently estimated that the Ebola epidemic could cost Africa US$32 billion (S$40 billion).

The United Nations says it has so far received just 38 per cent of funds pledged in a near US$1 billion appeal to handle the humanitarian crisis in west Africa.

According to the latest figures from the World Health Organisation, 4,555 people had died from Ebola out of a total of 9,216 cases registered in seven countries, as of Oct 14.

The majority of deaths and infections have occurred in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone.