A Jewish couple, Mark Gerson and his wife, Erica, have made a whopping donation of $18 million to support medical missionaries to Africa, Christian Post has reported.

The donation, considered to be the largest private gift ever, is meant to assist Christian doctors who travelled to Africa for medical outreach.

The beneficiary African countries are Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Sudan (Nuba Mountains), Liberia, Burundi and Ethiopia.

The Gersons who are based in New York have been donating millions of dollars over the years to support medical personnel travelling to communities in Africa.

They are traditional practicing Jews and attend the congregation of Rodeph Sholom in Manhattan, Christian Post reports.

Mark is an investor and co-founded the international consulting firm, Gerson Lehman Group.

The Gersons said they donated more money this time because Africa is one of the most significant humanitarian problems in the world.

According to Mark, the $18 million donated came from their personal savings and not funds from African Mission Healthcare (AMH), an organisation which he co-founded with Dr Jon Fielder in 2010.

AMH is a non-profit organisation that partners with mission hospitals to support and advance the commitment to provide quality, compassionate care for the hurting and forgotten and to contribute to an improving health system in sub-Saharan Africa.

“The best investment that one can make, whether in a business context or non-profit context, is by supporting Christian missionary doctors working in Africa,” he said, adding that the ratio of doctors to citizens cannot meet the healthcare needs of many countries in Africa.

Statistics show that there is one doctor for every 10,000 to 40,000 people.

Gerson said, “The stats are horrifying….We are able to see over a long period of time the extraordinary work that Christian missionary doctors were able to do with very limited resources.”

He said the money would be used to fund clinical care, notably surgery and medical training so that the next generation of Africa could access more doctors and other medical professionals.

The donor also said the fund would be used to finance infrastructure, provide oxygen for medical use and power for hospital housing for the beneficiary countries.

Mark lamented that in many African countries there are few specialists and surgeons due to lack of expertise in specialty areas of medicine and cannot perform surgeries.

He said, “The implication of this is that if you are a mother and you go into labour and there is anything remotely complicated, you might not be able to get a C-session. And that is why in Uganda and other African countries, only 20 per cent of women who need a C-session get it, which means that 80 per cent don’t.

“If you need a C-session and you don’t get it, you will either die in childbirth or you will suffer a number of birth injuries. And this will be with the mothers for the rest of their lives until they get surgery – which she will likely never be able to do because of the lack of surgeons.”