In April 2015, the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service announced the establishment of the Ebola Campaign Medal as a method to recognize the Corps’ work in eradicating the Ebola virus at the source of its outbreak in late 2013 and 2014 in West Africa, erecting safeguards to limit the spread of the virus, performing vaccine research, and providing care for eBola victims under extremely trying circumstances. While the number of Ebola cases peaked in the fall of 2014, several of the hardest hit countries—Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea—continued to see cases until the outbreak was finally brought to an end in the late spring of 2016.
The Ebola Campaign Medal is awarded to Officers in the Commissioned Corps of the USPHS who served in support of an international deployment authorized by the President or the Secretary of Health and Human Services in response to the Ebola outbreak. To qualify, Commissioned Corps’ Officers must have served for a period of either 14 (or more) consecutive days or 30 non-consecutive days.
Recipients of the Ebola Campaign Medal may also qualify for the Expeditionary Attachment.