About

Jonta Kamara, MPH is a health system and health policy analyst and is on a mission to improve health service delivery and local manufacturing of medical supplies in Africa. She is a Youth Reviewer on the Multidisciplinary Adolescent and Youth Review Board for the Second Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing. Jonta was invited to attend the prestigious WHO TDR Structured Operational Research and Training Initiative (SORT IT)   on Health Systems Strengthening in Nairobi, Kenya.

Jonta is the recipient of the 2022 Outstanding Recent Alumni Award by the University of Toronto African Alumni Association, the 2022 CJ Littlejohns Global Health Prize at King's College London, the 2021 Trudy Bush Fund at  Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and the 2018 Best Delegate in the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office at LONWHO. She is working one step at a time to change the narrative of public health on the African continent. Jonta also brings a lens of inclusion and gender equity to her work.

Education

Master of Public Health

Competed a Master of Public Health at King's College London.

Dissertation: How has the COVID-19 Pandemic impacted maternal and child health hospital utilisation in Sierra Leone?

King's College London

Honours Bachelor of Arts

New College, University of Toronto

Pursued a major in Health Studies with a double minor in African Studies and Immunology. Activities: University of Toronto International Health Program,  King’s Global Health Society,  Model World Health Organization Conferences

Projects & Research

Health Financing

  • Assessment of National Health Accounts and Financial Hardship  (March 2021)

  • Household Survey Analysis: Health Expenditures Analysis in India (Feb. 2021)

Infectious Diseases

  • Factors that Contribute to Measles Re-Emergence in High-income countries vs. Low-income countries (March 2022)

  • Failure of Malaria Control and Loss of Evolutionary Battles (Oct. 2020)

  • Outbreak Investigation: An Obscure Disease in an Island (Sept. 2020)

  • Examination of the role of sociological and cultural anthropological aspects in Sierra Leone during the 2014 Ebola Outbreak (June 2016)

Evaluation

  • UNICEF Learning Passport, Digital Learning Program Evaluation (July 2023)

  • Evaluation of NHS Infectious Disease Screening Programme in Pregnancy for England (March 2022)

  • Undergraduate Research Project: Disability-Inclusive Education in Malawi: The Role of UNICEF and USAID (April 2020)

Vaccinations

  • Understanding barriers to COVID-19 vaccination in G7 countries. (May 2022)

  • Is There an Association Between Maternal Education and Children Receiving their Second Polio Vaccination in Sierra Leone? (May 2021)

Health in All Policies

  • Toronto Stability Support Framework (July 2024)

  • Toronto Middle Childhood Strategy (February 2024)

  • The 2006 Syrian Drought as a Threat Multiplier: Focus on economic and agricultural policies in Syria (April 2019)

Maternal and Child Health

  • The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on emergency maternal and under-five referrals in Sierra Leone (June 2024)

  • Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child Health Program Replication Analysis (April 2021)

  • Policy Brief: Maternal, Newborn, Child Health in Sierra Leone (April 2017)

For more information on my experiences, visit my LinkedIn Profile.