Browsing by Author "Kamara, Foday Mamoud"

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How villagers in central Sierra Leone understand infection risks under threat of Covid-19
(Public Library of Science, 2020-06-24) Kamara, Foday Mamoud
BACKGROUND: Concern has been expressed over how well Africa is prepared to cope with the pandemic of Covid-19. Will rural populations with low levels of education know how to apply community-based infection control? We undertook fieldwork in two villages in central Sierra Leone to gain insight into how rural people faced with Covid-19 assess epidemic infection risks. METHODS: Two communities were selected based on prior contrasted exposure to Ebola Virus Disease-one with substantial number of cases and the other having resisted infection through strong community sequestration measures. We assessed understanding of infection risks via an experimental game. This asked players to express a preference for one of two diseases, one resembling Ebola with lower risk of infection and the other resembling Covid-19 with lower risk of death. Players were not told the identity of the diseases. RESULTS: In total 107 adult villagers played the game (58% women). Half (52%) preferred the disease model with lower risk of infection, 29% preferred the model with lower risk of death, while 21% saw the combined risk of infection and death as being equivalent. Differences in reactions between the two locations were small despite different experiences of Ebola. Asked to explain their choices 48% of players cited information on infection risks modelled by the game and 31% stated that their choices reflected awareness of the need for personal action and respect for local regulations. We concluded that villagers thoughtfully assess disease risks and that some are good intuitive statisticians. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest rural people in Sierra Leone retain the lessons of experience from the Ebola outbreak of 2014-15 and will be able to apply these lessons to a new infectious disease for which have no prior practical experience. Our expectation is that rural populations will understand Covid-19 control measures, thus reducing need for draconian enforcement.
Pandemic preparedness and pandemic arrival: an ethnographic observation
(Cambridge University Press, 2025-06-16) Kamara, Foday Mamoud
The Pandemic Preparedness Project (PPP) was an attempt to understand community-level pandemic preparedness, primarily using a longitudinal observational research method.Anthropologists refer to this type of approach as 'ethnography'.An ethnographic study is based on long-term residence, during which the researcher becomes well-known to the group being observed and habituated to their way of life.The knowledge, attitudes, and practices of the observed group are studied, contextualised within the researcher's own graspas far as possibleof a social totality, sometimes referred to as a 'life world'.Within the field of epidemiology, the aim of this approach is to understand what informants mean when they report or discuss bio-social facts regarding infection and risks of infection, describe symptoms of disease, or respond to interventions designed to reduce the spread of infectious disease.Sierra Leone has a good number of social scientists, but they have mainly been trained in approaches typically involving the use of questionnaires and numerical methods and are less familiar with ethnographic approaches.I was trained in Political Science and then Public Administration.Ethnography came as a bit of a shock, and these notes are intended to help my fellow researchers better understand what might be involved in taking an ethnographic approach, especially in the context of an epidemiological study intended to shed light on biosocial data.Ethnographically, one becomes acculturated by immersing oneself in the customs and traditions of the community, becoming involved in community undertakings such as the observance of burial protocols, joining them on their farms, and participating fully in community work.In bereaved homes, I would pay condolences to the family as a show of concern for them and the departed soul.When serious matters arose in the community, the town chief would invite me to be part of the jury to resolve the issue.Through this, the community started to recognise me and bestow confidence in me.I started my ethnographic journey in July 2019 in G., a large Kpa Mende village in southern Sierra Leone.My initial experience with the community was somewhat daunting, both for them and for me, in the sense that many people were afraid of me.At that point, many referred to me as a spy in their communities, working for the government.Others assumed I was some kind of journalist who had come to observe them and would later disseminate my findings over social media.However, this changed over time due to my extended stay with them (over two years), during which I became acculturated as a typical Kpa Mende man.After some time, I was simply taken as one of them, which allowed them to unveil hidden facts about various occurrences.With my tape recorder, I soon became a familiar sight in G and its numerous satellite villages.Carrying out my participant observation studies no longer caused fear or comment.This happened about