 | Tulane-Xavier MHIRT Program Site 7 - Kenema, Sierra Leone The Tulane program in Sierra Leone is based on the grounds of Kenema Government Hospital, a 327-bed regional reference center for the southeastern region of the country. The array of tropical diseases present in the area is vast, including malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, Lassa fever, yellow fever and other arboviral diseases, intestinal parasites, Buruli ulcer, vaccine-preventable illnesses, such as measles and tetanus, and the viral hepatitides. Kenema is also the base of the Mano River Union Lassa Fever Network in Sierra Leone (MRU-LFN). The MRU-LFN was created in 2004 to assist Mano River Union countries (Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea) in the development of national and regional prevention and control strategies for Lassa fever and other important regional diseases, including the enhancement of laboratory diagnostic capacity, surveillance and training in laboratory diagnosis, clinical management, and infection and environmental control. MRU-LFN activities are implemented by Tulane University under a contract with the World Health Organization. The enhanced physical and organizational infrastructure provided by the MRU-LFN offers an opportunity for research and training rarely found in developing countries. The civil war in Sierra Leone ended in 2002 and the country, although struggling to rebuild its infrastructure and economy, is politically stable. 
U.S. Mentor
Daniel Bausch, MD, MPH&TM, is an infectious disease specialist with extensive overseas research experience during the past 15 years. He is currently an associate professor of tropical medicine at Tulane, specializing in the study of viral hemorrhagic fevers and other emerging viruses. His overseas clinical and research experience includes extensive work in sub-Saharan Africa (Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, Gabon, Uganda, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon), as well as in Vietnam and several countries in the Americas. He has strong connections and collaborations with the Special Pathogens Branch of the CDC, where he was a medical officer in the epidemiology unit from 1996 to 2003. Overseas Mentor
Augustine Goba is a Tulane employee presently serving as the laboratory advisor for the MRU-LFN and as director of the Kenema Government Hospital Lassa Laboratory. He has over 20 years of experience in international research through collaborations with Tulane and the CDC. From 1996 to 2004, he served as the chief laboratory technician for the Tulane/CDC Lassa Fever Research Program in Guinea. Mr. Goba is responsible for the development and execution of research programs and the oversight of laboratory personnel working at Kenema Government Hospital. He serves as the liaison between Kenema Government Hospital, the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation, and foreign collaborators, including Tulane. Research Areas
The historical focus of research in Kenema has been on Lassa fever. Current research projects are aimed at defining behavioral risk factors for Lassa fever, assessing the adherence to and adverse effects of post-exposure ribavirin for Lassa fever, defining the population dynamics and taxonomy of the rodent reservoir of Lassa virus, and developing new diagnostic assays based on recombinant reagents. New lines of research and public health surveillance are planned, including investigating the burden of disease attributed to various flaviviruses (yellow fever, dengue, West Nile) circulating in the region and exploring the distribution of water and land fowl potentially involved in the transmission of avian influenza. Research projects may be oriented toward the field laboratory and/or hospital, depending on the student. 
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