A SCOTS-BASED charity has launched an emergency relief effort to deliver food aid to thousands of people hit by the Ebola outbreak.

Mary's Meals will deliver food to patients infected by the deadly virus, as well as families and children, in Liberia.

Before the outbreak, the charity reached more than 128,000 impoverished children across the West African country each day, attracting them to the classroom with a nutritious school meal.

However, all schools have been forced to close, halting the feeding programme.

Organisers have now decided to use their resources in the country to provide food to children in their homes and distribute meals to Ebola sufferers.

Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, Mary's Meals' founder and CEO, said: "We have been working in Liberia since 1997 at the height of its terrifying civil war.

"Today, we are determined to again provide continuity and potentially life-saving support, at a time when the communities we serve are facing, in Ebola, a truly frightening invisible enemy.

"It is thanks to the generosity of our supporters around the world that Mary's Meals can act quickly to provide vital food supplies to people in desperate need."

The Mary's Meals crisis response, which focuses on two counties cut off from the capital Monrovia by military blockade, has already seen around 10,000 children receive emergency food rations in their homes.

The state of emergency declared by Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has led to the establishment of quarantined zones and the restriction of people's movements. As a result, there have been widespread reports of soaring food prices and increased hunger.

Mary's Meals are working with community leaders to deliver the emergency food distribution programme.