Eric Nzirakaindi Ikoona

A qualitative study of the 2025 mpox epidemic in Sierra Leone as a multidimensional social phenomenon

Mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) caused 5442 confirmed cases and 60 deaths in Sierra Leone in 2025. Epidemiological and genomic studies describe its scale and lineage, but not how people governed, interpreted, lived, and survived it. We conducted an interpretive qualitative stu...

From invisibility to imperfect visibility: the emergence of stillbirth and neonatal death surveillance in Sierra Leone’s electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response system, 2021–2025

In 2021, Sierra Leone added stillbirth, early neonatal death (END), and late neonatal death (LND) fields to its electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (eIDSR) system. The scale, distribution, and stability of reporting had not been assessed against expected death...

A study of public health emergency management capacity and capability of Sierra Leone’s national public health agency

Abstract Purpose Emerging National Public Health Institutes (NPHIs) often receive a statutory mandate before the internal systems and district routines needed to deliver public health emergency management (PHEM) have matured. External assessments report national capacities but re...