Australia is being reckless in continuing to ignore its international obligation to send personnel to help the fight against Africa's worsening Ebola outbreak, one of the world's leading humanitarian groups says.

A senior Australian representative of aid agency  Medecins Sans  Frontieres said countries such as Australia did not have time to "sit around on the sidelines" given the pace of the spread of the disease.

Medecins Sans Frontieres, which is also known by its English name Doctors Without Borders, has more than 270 international staff posted in Ebola-affected areas in west Africa.

The Abbott government said on Friday that it would be irresponsible to deploy medical personnel in Africa without an "ironclad" agreement ensuring any personnel that become infected would be evacuated and treated at facilities in the US, Britain or Europe.

It has instead pledged $10 million to a United Nations Ebola assistance fund and put a rapid response team on alert should the disease be detected in the Asia-Pacific region.

But Medecins Sans Frontieres advocacy manager Jon Edwards told Fairfax Media that spread of the epidemic meant that countries such as Australia needed to send personnel now.

"As the outbreak continues to grow – and it can and will continue to spread – the decision not to send Australian personnel to help contain Ebola is reckless itself," Mr Edwards said. "The money [provided by the government] is great, but it's not the solution. It can't create the doctors, nurses and medical teams needed to actually fight the disease."

The call came as British Prime Minister David Cameron called on countries other than the US and France to join his government in doing more to tackle the Ebola crisis at its source in Africa.

"It is time for other countries to look at their responsibilities and act in a similar ways ...other countries need to step forward," Mr Cameron said.

About 4555 of the 9216 Ebola cases that have been detected in west Africa to date have died, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop defended the government's response, saying Australia did not have the military capability to evacuate an Ebola sufferer and no other country had guaranteed to take and treat an infected Australian health worker.

"What we are doing is providing funding for the front-line services and we have over many years provided substantial funding to the WHO," she said.

"The UN asked for money and we immediately came up with an additional $10 million and we received thanks and praise from the UN. They said that was exactly the kind of response they wanted, not a pledge but actual money which we have provided."

Ms Bishop said Australia had plans to react if Ebola reached the country or the region.

"Particularly if it came to the Pacific we would consider it Australia's primary responsibility to respond," she said.

But Mr Edwards said he was aware of at least 12 internationals who had been evacuated to Europe under the current "ad hoc" system. Eleven were returned to their country of nationality for treatment and one, a Sudanese national, was accepted by Germany.

"You can't get a 100 per cent guarantee in these situations because there are so many variables at play. But we have a very high level of confidence that evacuations will happen when they are necessary. They have been happening to date."