Dr. Raissa Sorgho, MScIH
Lead Scientist
Dr. Raissa Sorgho is a global health specialist with over a decade of progressive leadership experience in development, consultancy, and research. She leads the design, development and execution of global programs while managing a growing network of partners.
Her expertise spans from health (nutrition and heat) to climate change (adaptation and sustainability) and policy (review and implementation), with an emphasis on mixed methods and evidence-based decision making. Her professional experiences span designing randomized control trials, implementing systematic policy reviews, assessing capacity building workforce development in over 20 countries globally.
Dr. Sorgho works extensively on strategy design, partnership building, systems strengthening, behavior change communication and sustainability. She has lived and worked a decade in sub-Saharan Africa, a decade in Europe and in the United States.
Dr. Sorgho has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications and drafted national legislations. She has presented her work and chaired prestigious conferences such as the World Health Summit and the Conference of Parties. She maintains her affiliation as a senior scientist at the Center for Development Research, a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University and an advisor at the Public Health Institute.
Education
Contributions
GRANTS & PROJECTS
2025: US DoS Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
2024: European Union Horizon Health
2023: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Grant
2023: US AID Bureau For Humanitarian Assistance
2023: US DA Agricultural Marketing Services
2023: Public Health Institute Development Grant
2022: Abbott Center Malnutrition Solution Grant
2022: US AID PMI Global Health Supply Chain program
2020: German Research Foundation Grant
2018: Stiftung Fiat Panis Grant
2015: Germany Academic Exchange Services Grant
AWARDS
2019: DAAD German Academic Exchange Service: Research Grant Scholarship
2017: Ruprecht-Karls-Universitat-Heidelberg: Best Thesis Award
2010: Posse Foundation Full Tuition Leadership Scholarship
2008: Virginia School League of Academic Excellence Award
PUBLICATIONS
Sharn AR, Sorgho R, Sulo S, Molina-Molina E, Rojas Montenegro C, Villa-Real Guno MJ, Abdel-Rahman S. 2024, Using mid-upper arm circumference z -score measurement to support youth malnutrition screening as part of a global sports and wellness program and improve access to nutrition care. Front Nutr. 2024 Aug 12;11:1423978. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1423978..
Kihagi GW, Hansen LS, Agure E, Muok EMO, Mank I, Danquah I, Sorgho R. 2024 'Counselling is not just providing information': perceptions of caregivers and stakeholders on the design of nutrition and health counselling interventions for families with young children in rural Kenya. BMC Health Serv Res. 24(1):597. doi: 10.1186/s12913-024-10872-w.
Hansen L-S, Wothaya Kihagi G, Agure E, Muok EMO, Mank I, Danquah I, Sorgho R. 2023. Sustainable home gardens in Western Kenya: A qualitative study for co-designing nutrition-sensitive interventions. J Rural Studies, 103: 103132.
Sorgho, R.; Bhatt, M.; Danquah, I. Sauerborn, R. (2022) Institutional Barriers to Climate Change and Health Adaptation in Burkina Faso. Climate and Development DOI: 10.1080/17565529.2022.2125786
Hansen L-S.; Sorgho R.; Mank I.; Schwerdtle P. N.; Agure E,; Bärnighausen T., Danquah I. Home gardening in sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review on practices and nutrition outcomes in rural Burkina Faso and Kenya Food and Energy Security 2021 https://doi.org/10.1002/fes3.388
Osei T.B.; Isabel Mank I.; Sorgho R,; Schwerdtle P.N,; Santos-Hövener C,: Florian Fischer F,; Razum O,Danquah I; Etiological research on migrants’ health in Germany: A systematic literature review” European Journal of Public Health 2021 DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-058712
Mank, I., Sorgho, R., Zerbo, F. et al. ALIMUS—We are feeding! Study protocol of a multi-center, cluster-randomized controlled trial on the effects of a home garden and nutrition counseling intervention to reduce child undernutrition in rural Burkina Faso and Kenya. Trials 23, 449 (2022). DOI: 10.1186/s13063-022-06423-5
Sorgho, R.; Jungmann, M.; Souares, A.; Danquah, I.; Sauerborn, R. Climate Change, Health Risks and Vulnerabilities in Burkina Faso: a Qualitative Study on the Perceptions of National policymakers. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 4972. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18094972
Sorgho, R.; Quiñonez, C.A.M.; Louis, V.R.; Winkler, V.; Dambach, P.; Sauerborn, R.; Horstick, O. Climate Change Policies in 16 West African Countries: A Systematic Review of Adaptation with a Focus on Agriculture, Food Security, and Nutrition. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 8897. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17238897
Yeboah E, Bunker A, Dambach P, Mank I, Sorgho R, Sié A, et al. Transformative Adaptations for Health Impacts of Climate Change in Burkina Faso and Kenya. In: Leal Filho W, Ogugu N, Adelake L, Ayal D, da Silva I, editors. African Handbook of Climate Change Adaptation. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2020. p. 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45106-6_119
Sorgho, R.; Mank, I.; Kagoné, M.; Souares, A.; Danquah, I.; Sauerborn, R. “We Will Always Ask Ourselves the Question of How to Feed the Family”: Subsistence Farmers’ Perceptions on Adaptation to Climate Change in Burkina Faso. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 7200. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17197200
Karst, I.G.; Mank, I.; Traoré, I.; Sorgho, R.; Stückemann, K.-J.; Simboro, S.; Sié, A.; Franke, J.; Sauerborn, R. (2020), Estimating Yields of Household Fields in Rural Subsistence Farming Systems to Study Food Security in Burkina Faso. Remote Sens.2020,12, 1717. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12111717
Sorgho R, Jonas F, Simboro S, Barteit S, Sauerborn R. (2018) Utilizing remote sensing at a subsistence farming level to explore child undernutrition in the context of climate change. In: Kallel A., Ksibi M., Ben Dhia H., Khélifi N. (eds) Recent Advances in Environmental Science from the Euro-Mediterranean and Surrounding Regions. EMCEI 2017. Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation (IEREK Interdisciplinary Series for Sustainable Development). Springer, Cham DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-70548-4_502
Sorgho R, Franke J, Simboro S, Barteit S, Phalkey R, Sauerborn R (2017) Linking Weather Data, Satellite Imagery and Field Observations to Household Food Production and Child under Nutrition: An Exploratory Study from a Subsistence Farming Village in Burkina Faso. Universal J Public Hlth 5(5): 256-270 DOI:10.13189/ujph.2017.050508
Sorgho R, Franke J, Simboro S, Phalkey R, Sauerborn R (2016) NUTRition and CLIMate (NUTRICLIM): investigating the relationship between climate variables and childhood malnutrition through agriculture, an exploratory study in Burkina Faso. Public Health Reviews. Special Edition "Climate Change and Health". Pro-cedings from the COP21 Side Event "Healthy Lives on a Healthy Planet": 51-56. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40985-016-0031-6