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Aspen Medical remains on the frontline in efforts to keep Ebola at bay in West Africa

Announcement posted by Aspen Medical 28 Feb 2017

Aspen Medical has been contracted to provide air and surface transportation support to Mapp Biopharmaceutical, Inc. (Mapp), a leading American biopharmaceutical company, to ensure that any future outbreaks of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in West Africa are dealt with promptly.

This project has been funded with U.S. Federal funds from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, at the Department of Health and Human Services, This program will support pre-positioned teams ready to supply Mapp's experimental Ebola therapeutic, ZMapp, to treatment centres in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. These teams provide an immediate response capability to any suspected future Ebola outbreak.

“We worked across Liberia and Sierra Leone on behalf of the Australian, New Zealand, US and UK governments to stop Ebola and we are honoured to be now playing a crucial role in making sure this appalling disease does not take root in the region again,” said Glenn Keys, Co-Executive Chairman and co-founder of Aspen Medical.

Aspen Medical was one of the only organisations in the world to be contracted by four separate countries to deliver their Ebola response.  The company managed the Australian and New Zealand Governments’ Ebola Treatment Centre in Sierra Leone from mid-December 2014 until the end of April 2015.  Aspen Medical continued to play a crucial role in Sierra Leone where it managed the Kerry Town Treatment Unit on behalf of the UK Government as well as providing support to the laboratory run by Public Health England until the end of November 2015.  The company also managed four Ebola Treatment Units in Liberia on behalf of the US Government.  In all, more than 250 non-African health professional deployed to West Africa with Aspen Medical and were supported by over 800 local staff across the three projects.

In November 2016, Aspen Medical won the International Project Management Association gold medal in the Overseas Humanitarian Aid category for its Ebola Response work in West Africa.  

The West African Ebola Outbreak of 2013 – 2016 which began in Guinea resulted in 28,616 infections resulting in 11,310 deaths across the region.