COMAHS – College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences – at the University of Sierra Leone is the country’s only medical and pharmacy school. COMAHS was a partner in our predecessor programme, ReBUILD, focusing on community health workers, health financing and its effect on poor households’ access to health services, the impact of policies on human resources for health, and the incentive environment for health workers. The impact of Ebola on health workers was also a major focus.
The ReBUILD for Resilience team at COMAHS focuses on health systems research and capacity strengthening to deliver credible, relevant research for effective policy making and practice. Staff work to generate evidence to inform government policy and donor strategies for building resilient and responsive health systems.
The gendered experience of close to community providers in fragile and shock-prone settings: implications for policy and practice during and post COVID-19
Haja Ramatulai Wurie is the ReBUILD for Resilience project lead at COMAHS. She is also a senior lecturer in biochemistry and head of the biochemistry department. Haja is a multi-disciplinary health researcher involved in a range of health systems strengthening projects (including the ReBUILD project) [link aboutus/ReBUILD/gender] and is at the forefront of research capacity building at COMAHS.
Contact Haja on haja.wurie@usl.edu.sl
Emma is a research fellow on the ReBUILD for Resilience programme. She is a registered pharmacist, and previously worked as both an inspector and a regulatory pharmacist for the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MOHS). She has an interest in health system strengthening research and brings networking with relevant stakeholders at the MOHS to the project.
Emma has an MBA from the Institute of Public Administration and Management, University of Sierra Leone.
Contact Emma on egbaoh@gmail.com
Yatta is the research administrator for ReBUILD for Resilience at COMAHS (she previously worked on ReBUILD). She is also the assistant registrar for academic affairs at the college. Previously, Yatta worked on several research programmes at COMAHS including the Sierra Leone Trial to Introduce a Vaccine against Ebola (STRIVE), RECAP–SL, Health Systems Strengthening in Sub-Saharan Africa (ASSET), Research Unit on Health in Fragility (RUHF) Project, and the ARISE Hub (Accountability and Responsiveness in Informal Settlements for Equity).
Yatta has a Master of Public Administration degree from Njala University.
Amara Katta worked as a teacher for ten years before moving in the finance field, working as an assistant finance officer and acting accountant. He was also the admin/finance officer for the ReBUILD research consortium from 2011-18.
Lansana is a research assistant working on the ReBUILD for Resilience programme at COMAHS. Lansana has had experience working in the health sector in Sierra Leone, especially at the district level. He worked as a technical officer on the Auto-Visual AFP Detection and Reporting (AVADAR) mobile application for eHealth Africa, and as an Ebola Response Operator with Action Against Hunger/ District Health Management Team in Moyamba district.
Lansana holds a Master of Public Health degree from James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Bangladesh.