Department of Environmental Health Sciences
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://dspace.njala.edu.sl/handle/20.500.144402/168
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Item Regression Modelling and Analysis of Cell phone-Based Syndromic Surveillance Data for Ebola in Sierra Leone(OMICS Publishing Group, 2016) Kangbai, Jia Bainga**Aim:** To determine the out degree centrality for multivariate analysis, examine the demographic differences and characteristics of callers who make more calls, and determine callers who are more likely to make at least one positive Ebola call.Methods: Surveillance data for 393 suspected Ebola cases (192 males, 201 females) were collected from October 23, 2014 to June 28, 2015 using cell phone technology.UCINET and Net Draw software were used to determine the out degree centrality used for multivariate analysis.Poisson and logistic regression analyses were used to do multivariable analysis.Result: Women (AOR=0.33,95% CI \[0.14, 0.81\]) was associated with decreased odds of making at least one positive Ebola surveillance call compared to men.Women (IR= 0.63, 95% CI \[0.49, 0.82\]) was also associated with making fewer Ebola surveillance calls compared to men. **Conclusion:** This study shows that the combination of cell phone technology with user-friendly and open-source social network software such as UCINET and Net draw will provide an important adjunct to the traditional measures of epidemiologic surveillance.Item Health Care Facility Network Efficiency and Location Crucial for Ebola Treatment Outcome(OMICS Publishing Group, 2018) Kangbai, Jia Bainga**Background:** The application of network analysis in public health research is gaining popularity with the belief that health problems are a product of complex social, political and economic causes.Organisational networks can be used in public health to design and evaluate public health programs.There have been multiple studies in the past relating to public health organisations and HIV/AIDS using organisational networking method.Here we use social network analysis to analyse the association between the network positions of health care facilities and the treatment outcome of Ebola patients from these health care facilities in Sierra Leone. **Methods:** We extracted and later analysed treatment outcome data obtained from the Case Report Forms (CRF) of 117 Ebola patients who sought Ebola treatment at the Kenema Government Hospital from June 2014 to April 2015.For ego network purpose, we considered each Ebola referral health care facility as an ego.Poisson regression analysis was used to determine the association between Ebola mortality rates in a health care facility and the ego's structural holes.Results: The median age, length of stay during Ebola treatment, and the period it takes an Ebola patient to survive treatment following from onset of signs and symptoms were 20 (IQR=17.5 years), 15 (IQR=11 days) and 7 (IQR=5.3days) respectively.There were differences in ego, network efficiency, effective size and constraint for the factors associated with mortality rates for Ebola patients treated at the Kenema Government Hospital.Conclusion: Establishing non-redundant contacts within a health care facility network and expanding their locations can reduce Ebola mortality rates during outbreak.Item Role and strategies of international humanitarian organisations in handling the Liberia Ebola outbreak(2022-02-15) Alameldeen, AhmedIn Early August 2014, the World Health Organisation declared an Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in the region of West Africa. The West African EVD outbreak was the largest, most severe, and complex in the nearly four-decade history of this disease. The management of EVD cases in Liberia was similar to the other affected West African countries. We reviewed the method and strategies used by some of the international humanitarian organisations in handling the 2013-2016 Ebola outbreak in Liberia. This report is a collection of personal field experiences in Liberia as well as personal interviews of healthcare personnel working for some of these international organisations working on the Ebola emergency in Liberia.Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) was the first humanitarian NGO to deploy medical staff to the field in Liberia during the 2013-2016 EVD outbreak. MSF staffs were already operating in Liberia even before the declaration of the outbreak in August 2014.The slow response by the international humanitarian organisations to lend their support in bringing the EVD outbreak to and exhibited the fear the international community have for deadly infectious diseases more than armed conflicts.We recommend regularly training in public health emergency preparedness for third world countries that are highly susceptible to health emergencies such as Ebola outbreak to help prepared them ahead of such outbreak.