On December 10th, ASF, the aviation humanitarian organization, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, began its mission providing air support to the organizations present on the ground and to fight Ebola.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development has signed an agreement with ASF for a 9 months air support mission. Thanks to this mission. ASF provides, to the benefit of the organizations present on site, the air transport of medical staff, food supplies, medical equipment, drugs and infected patients between Conakry and several treatment centres.
ASF has mobilised for this mission a Cessna Caravan plane with a capacity of 9 passengers or 1 ton of cargo. Based in Conakry, the aircraft will connect the humanitarian intervention centres of N'Zerekore, Beyla, Macenta, Kérouané (in Forested Guinea), Forécariah, Manéah and Coyah (west of the country). ASF’s plane can also intervene in Bamako, Mali. Teams of two volunteer pilots will take turns for 4 to 6 weeks missions under direct logistical coordination of the Embassy of France in Conakry.
“ASF roadmap is simple: it is essential to be able to quickly and efficiently supply the treatment centres to prevent people from moving and increasing the epidemic, says Pierre Lacorne, President of ASF. These centres, often located days away from Conakry, can be easily reached by air. NGOs working on site are doing an admirable job but do not have the necessary resources to act fast. We provide them with these resources.”
ASF had already provided air support for operations against Ebola in late August 2014 in the Djera region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The great coordination efforts management and logistics, in this inaccessible region, led the UN coordinator on site to announce, on November 15th, that the epidemic had been eradicated
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