World Health Organization director-general Margaret Chan announced on Monday that she was establishing a $100 million contingency fund to ensure that the U.N. agency has the resources to respond immediately to a major crisis.

Admitting that the WHO had been "overwhelmed" by the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, Chan also told its annual meeting that she was creating a new program for health emergencies linking its three levels - country, regional and Geneva headquarters.

"I do not ever again want to see this Organization faced with a situation it is not prepared, staffed, funded, or administratively set up to manage," Chan told health ministers. "I plan to complete these changes by the end of the year."