Search
Search within Sierra Leone
40 results found

Case Studies
Building a Community Health Worker Programme During the Ebola Outbreak in Sierra Leone
Case study looking into the challenge of a lack of trust and referrals to biomedical health care

blog
“Working in silos doesn’t work for outbreak response”: Localising social science response efforts in West Africa
New SSHAP partner the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team (UKPHRST), and their collaborators, explain why social science needs to…

Television and Ebola
Circulating around the globe during the 2014-15 Ebola outbreak in West Africa were bold and sensationalistic headlines such as “Killer Virus”, “Ebola Here!” and “Burn dead bodies.” Along with such stark and shocking headlines were images of health providers sealed (concealed) within…

Evidence Reviews
Ebola
Summary and background reports offering recommendations on local customs, health care systems and other topics.

Briefings
Zoonotic Disease Risk and the Bushmeat Trade: Assessing Awareness Among Hunters and Traders in Sierra Leone
The bushmeat industry has been a topic of increasing importance among both conservationists and public health officials for its influence on zoonotic disease transmission and animal conservation. While the association between infectious diseases and the bushmeat trade is well established…

Background Reports
Structural Drivers of Vulnerability to Zoonotic Disease in Africa
This paper argues that addressing the underlying structural drivers of disease vulnerability is essential for a ‘One Health’ approach to tackling zoonotic diseases in Africa. Through three case studies-trypanosomiasis in Zimbabwe, Ebola and Lassa Fever in Sierra Leone and Rift…

Briefings
Strengthening Health Systems for Resilience
In countries with high levels of poverty or instability and with poor health system management and governance, people are highly vulnerable to shocks associated with ill health, including major epidemics. An effective health system can help build their resilience by…

Briefings
Social Mobilization and Community Engagement Central to the Ebola Response in West Africa: Lessons for Future Public Health Emergencies.
Following the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern regarding the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in July 2014, UNICEF was asked to co-lead, in coordination with WHO and the ministries of health of…

Background Reports
Rat-Atouille: A Mixed Method Study to Characterize Rodent Hunting and Consumption in the Context of Lassa Fever
Lassa Fever is a zoonotic hemorrhagic illness predominant in areas across Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, and southern Mali. The reservoir of Lassa virus is the multimammate mouse (Mastomys natalensis), a highly commensal species in West Africa. Primary transmission to…

Briefings
Power, Fairness and Trust: Understanding and Engaging with Vaccine Trial Participants and Communities in the Setting Up the EBOVAC-Salone Vaccine Trial in Sierra Leone
This paper discusses the establishment of a clinical trial of an Ebola vaccine candidate in Kambia District, Northern Sierra Leone during the epidemic, and analyses the role of social science research in ensuring that lessons from the socio-political context, the…

Background Reports
Participation of Women and Children in Hunting Activities in Sierra Leone and Implications for Control of Zoonotic Infections
The emergence of infectious diseases of zoonotic origin highlights the need to understand social practices at the animal-human interface. This study provides a qualitative account of interactions between humans and wild animals in predominantly Mende villages of southern Sierra Leone.…

Background Reports
Extending the “Social”: Anthropological Contributions to the Study of Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers
Emerging Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers (VHFs) offer a frontier for a “One-Health” research agenda; the joined-up, or collaborative, effort of multiple disciplines to attain optimal health for people, animals, and the environment (e.g. http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/). Multidisciplinary work on Lassa Fever and Ebola…