Dr Austin Hunt

Co-founder and past- chair of Masanga UK. Consultant Physician University Hospital Plymouth and Pathway lead Peninsula School of Medicine

We set up MasangaUK in 2008 as a THET partnership for the mutual benefit of staff and students at UHP/ Peninsula School of Medicine and the people of Tonkilili district of Sierra Leone. Working in partnership with Masanga Denmark and CAPA care Norway we rehabilitated Masanga Hospital following the Civil War. During the Ebola emergency we raised almost £400,000 to facilitate training of local health care workers in IPC. To date 85 volunteers have been placed at Masanga including about 35 student electives. The direct involvement of staff and students has resulted in the establishment of an acute medical unit and an isolation facility for dangerous pathogens including viral haemorrhagic fevers.