Foday Sahr
Biographic Data
| ID | 1741987 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Foday Sahr |
| GIVEN NAMES | Foday |
| FAMILY NAME | Sahr |
| SIGNATURE | SAHR F |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Sierra Leone |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9816-4502 |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 30 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Tell people and lose what I have
During Sierra Leone’s 2025 clade IIb mpox outbreak, care-seeking occurred in a social context where formal presentation could expose symptoms, sexualised assumptions, and private relationships to families, workplaces, neighbours, and surveillance systems. We conducted a focused thematic analysis nested within a broader qualitative study across Western Area Urban, Western Area Rural, Bo, and Kenema from 10 March to 28 August 2025. The focused data…
When women’s HIV prevention becomes unstable
HIV prevention among women is often described as movement from risk recognition to protective action. Structural and gender factors shape whether that movement occurs. Less clear is how these factors change over time and how these changes affect women’s capacity to sustain prevention. This longitudinal qualitative study examined this temporal gap in Sierra Leone. Forty-eight interviews were conducted across Western Area Urban, Bo and Kenema. They…
Suffering in silence
Mpox was confirmed in Sierra Leone in January 2025, with a public health emergency declared shortly thereafter. By June 2025, the country reported over 4,000 confirmed cases caused by clade IIb. Limited qualitative research has explored the lived experiences of affected populations during mpox outbreaks in African settings. This study explored multi-stakeholder experiences of mpox, including illness trajectories, stigma manifestations, healthcare…
Synthetic opioid response in a low-income country
“Protecting ourselves in silence”
Women in Sierra Leone navigate HIV vulnerabilities shaped by gender inequities, economic dependence, and post-conflict dynamics. Despite a disproportionate burden (2.2% among women versus 1.1% among men), limited research has explored how women perceive and respond to HIV risk in low-prevalence West African settings. This qualitative study examined risk perception, vulnerability drivers, and prevention strategies through semi-structured interview…
Designing a leadership and management training curriculum for undergraduate health professions students
Leadership by health professionals is key in any health system, but health leadership training programmes are varied in their conceptualisation, learning objectives, and design. This paper describes an undergraduate leadership and management module for health students at the University of Sierra Leone and provides lessons from the design process. Our methods included an initial scoping review and qualitative study, followed by a co-design process…
Exit, voice or neglect
This paper presents a study from Sierra Leone that explored the experiences of doctors as they endeavored to improve the health care systems in which they worked. Twenty-eight interviews were conducted with doctors in Sierra Leone, complemented by long-standing experience of national health provision and research by the authors. Drawing on Hirschman's theory of ‘exit, voice and loyalty’, the paper's framework analysis elaborates the doctor's care…
Assessing eligibility for differentiated service delivery, HIV services utilization and virologic outcomes of adult HIV-infected patients in Sierra Leone
Background There are limited data to help guide implementation of differentiated HIV service delivery (DSD) in resource-limited settings in sub-Saharan Africa.Objectives This pre-implementation study sought to assess the proportion of patients eligible for DSD and HIV services utilization, as well as risk factor analysis of virologic failure in Sierra Leone.Methods We conducted a retrospective study of adult HIV-infected patients aged 18 years an…
To bend without breaking
Strong leadership capabilities are essential for effective health services, yet definitions of leadership remain contested. Despite the acknowledged contextual specificity of leadership styles, most leadership theories draw heavily from Western conceptualizations. This cultural bias may attenuate the effectiveness of programmes intended to transform healthcare practice in Sub-Saharan Africa, where few empirical studies on health leadership have b…
Causes of hospitalization and predictors of HIV-associated mortality at the main referral hospital in Sierra Leone
HIV-infected patients account for a substantial proportion of admissions at Connaught Hospital, with a high morbidity and in-hospital mortality burden. These findings necessitate the implementation of specific measures to enhance early HIV diagnosis and expand treatment access to all HIV-infected patients in Sierra Leone
Unintended consequences of the 'bushmeat ban' in West Africa during the 2013-2016 Ebola virus disease epidemic
Following the 2013-2016 outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West Africa, governments across the region imposed a ban on the hunting and consumption of meat from wild animals. This injunction was accompanied by public health messages emphasising the infectious potential of wild meat, or 'bushmeat.' Using qualitative methods, we examine the local reception and impact of these interventions. Fieldwork was focused in 9 villages in the Eastern an…
Rat-atouille
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 humans occurs through direct or indirect contact with rodent body fluids such as urine, feces, saliva, or blood. Our research draws together qualitative and quantitative me…
Unintended consequences of the 'bushmeat ban' in West Africa during the 2013-2016 Ebola virus disease epidemic
Following the 2013-2016 outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West Africa, governments across the region imposed a ban on the hunting and consumption of meat from wild animals. This injunction was accompanied by public health messages emphasising the infectious potential of wild meat, or 'bushmeat.' Using qualitative methods, we examine the local reception and impact of these interventions. Fieldwork was focused in 9 villages in the Eastern an…
Rat-atouille
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 humans occurs through direct or indirect contact with rodent body fluids such as urine, feces, saliva, or blood. Our research draws together qualitative and quantitative me…
Unintended consequences of the 'bushmeat ban' in West Africa during the 2013-2016 Ebola virus disease epidemic
Following the 2013-2016 outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West Africa, governments across the region imposed a ban on the hunting and consumption of meat from wild animals. This injunction was accompanied by public health messages emphasising the infectious potential of wild meat, or 'bushmeat.' Using qualitative methods, we examine the local reception and impact of these interventions. Fieldwork was focused in 9 villages in the Eastern an…
Causes of hospitalization and predictors of HIV-associated mortality at the main referral hospital in Sierra Leone
HIV-infected patients account for a substantial proportion of admissions at Connaught Hospital, with a high morbidity and in-hospital mortality burden. These findings necessitate the implementation of specific measures to enhance early HIV diagnosis and expand treatment access to all HIV-infected patients in Sierra Leone
Assessing eligibility for differentiated service delivery, HIV services utilization and virologic outcomes of adult HIV-infected patients in Sierra Leone
Background There are limited data to help guide implementation of differentiated HIV service delivery (DSD) in resource-limited settings in sub-Saharan Africa.Objectives This pre-implementation study sought to assess the proportion of patients eligible for DSD and HIV services utilization, as well as risk factor analysis of virologic failure in Sierra Leone.Methods We conducted a retrospective study of adult HIV-infected patients aged 18 years an…
To bend without breaking
Strong leadership capabilities are essential for effective health services, yet definitions of leadership remain contested. Despite the acknowledged contextual specificity of leadership styles, most leadership theories draw heavily from Western conceptualizations. This cultural bias may attenuate the effectiveness of programmes intended to transform healthcare practice in Sub-Saharan Africa, where few empirical studies on health leadership have b…
Exit, voice or neglect
This paper presents a study from Sierra Leone that explored the experiences of doctors as they endeavored to improve the health care systems in which they worked. Twenty-eight interviews were conducted with doctors in Sierra Leone, complemented by long-standing experience of national health provision and research by the authors. Drawing on Hirschman's theory of ‘exit, voice and loyalty’, the paper's framework analysis elaborates the doctor's care…
Designing a leadership and management training curriculum for undergraduate health professions students
Leadership by health professionals is key in any health system, but health leadership training programmes are varied in their conceptualisation, learning objectives, and design. This paper describes an undergraduate leadership and management module for health students at the University of Sierra Leone and provides lessons from the design process. Our methods included an initial scoping review and qualitative study, followed by a co-design process…
Tell people and lose what I have
During Sierra Leone’s 2025 clade IIb mpox outbreak, care-seeking occurred in a social context where formal presentation could expose symptoms, sexualised assumptions, and private relationships to families, workplaces, neighbours, and surveillance systems. We conducted a focused thematic analysis nested within a broader qualitative study across Western Area Urban, Western Area Rural, Bo, and Kenema from 10 March to 28 August 2025. The focused data…
When women’s HIV prevention becomes unstable
HIV prevention among women is often described as movement from risk recognition to protective action. Structural and gender factors shape whether that movement occurs. Less clear is how these factors change over time and how these changes affect women’s capacity to sustain prevention. This longitudinal qualitative study examined this temporal gap in Sierra Leone. Forty-eight interviews were conducted across Western Area Urban, Bo and Kenema. They…
Suffering in silence
Mpox was confirmed in Sierra Leone in January 2025, with a public health emergency declared shortly thereafter. By June 2025, the country reported over 4,000 confirmed cases caused by clade IIb. Limited qualitative research has explored the lived experiences of affected populations during mpox outbreaks in African settings. This study explored multi-stakeholder experiences of mpox, including illness trajectories, stigma manifestations, healthcare…
Synthetic opioid response in a low-income country
“Protecting ourselves in silence”
Women in Sierra Leone navigate HIV vulnerabilities shaped by gender inequities, economic dependence, and post-conflict dynamics. Despite a disproportionate burden (2.2% among women versus 1.1% among men), limited research has explored how women perceive and respond to HIV risk in low-prevalence West African settings. This qualitative study examined risk perception, vulnerability drivers, and prevention strategies through semi-structured interview…
Sierra leone (10 works) · Qualitative research (6 works) · Medicine (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Focus group (4 works) · Political science (4 works) · Socioeconomics (4 works) · Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research (4 works) · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (3 works) · Global Maternal and Child Health (3 works)