Elijah Bisung

GoHelP Alumni
Elijah standing against a brick wall

Elijah Bisung completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo under the supervision of Dr. Susan Elliott. Prior to completing his post-doctoral fellowship, Elijah received a Master of Environmental Studies and Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Waterloo, and a Bachelor of Science from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

His doctorate research investigated the relationships between social capital, access to water and health in rural Kenya, and his bachelor's thesis examined health care financing in three primary care facilities in Nadowli District, Ghana.

His broad areas of research interest include water and sanitation, environmental health, social capital, health intervention research and global health. Currently Elijah is an Assistant Professors of Global Health in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario where he continues to investigate social and environmental aspects of wellbeing.

Elijah is also the founder of the SJE-GoHelP Foundation, a Ghanaian charity established to celebrate the work of Dr. Susan J. Elliott.

Publications

  • Bisung, E. & Elliott, S.J. (2018) Improvement in access to safe water, household water insecurity, and time savings: A cross-sectional retrospective study in Kenya. Social Science & Medicine. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.01.001
  • Bisung, E. & Elliott, S.J. (2017) “It makes us really look inferior to outsiders”: Coping with psychosocial experiences associated with the lack of access to safe water and sanitation. Canadian Journal of Public Health. DOI: 10.17269/cjph.108.5546
  • Elliott, S.J., *Dixon, J., Bisung, E. & Kangmennaang, J. (2017) A GLOWING footprint: Developing an index of wellbeing for low to middle income countries. International Journal of Wellbeing. doi: 10.5502/ijw.v7i2.503
  • Busing, E. and Elliot J. S. (2016) Exploring psychosocial impacts of the lack of access to water and adequate sanitation on wellbeing in Usoma, Kenya. Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development. DOI: 10.2166/washdev.2016.122
  • Bisung, E., Karanja, D. M., Abudho, B., Oguna, Y., Ego, P., Mwaura, N., Schuster-Wallace, C.J and Elliott,S. J. (2016) One community’s journey to lobby for water in an environment of privatised water: Is Usoma too poor for the pro-poor program? African Geographical Review, 35:70-82
  • Rishworth, A., Bisung, E. & Luginaah, I (2016) "It's like a disease": Women's perceptions of caesarean sections in Ghana's Upper West Region. Women and Birth.Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2016.05.004
  • Kuu-ire, V.Z., Bisung, E., Dixon, J., Rishworth, A., & Luginaah I. (2016). Health seeking behaviour during times of illness — a study among adults in a resource poor setting in Ghana. Journal of Public Health. doi 10.1093/pubmed/fdv176
  • Bisung, E., Elliott, S. J., Schuster-Wallace C. J., Karanja, D. M. and Abudho, B. (2015) Using photovoice as a community based participatory research (CBPR) tool for changing water, sanitation and hygiene behaviours in Usoma, Kenya. BioMed Research International . http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/903025
  • Bisung, E., Elliott, S. J., Schuster-Wallace C. J., Karanja, D. M. and Abudho, B. (2015). “Dreaming of toilets”: Using photovoice to explore knowledge, attitudes and practices around water-health linkages in rural Kenya. Health and Place,31: 208-215
  • Bisung, E., Elliott, S. J., Schuster-Wallace C. J., Karanja, D. M. and Abudho, B. (2014) Social capital, collective action and access to water in rural Kenya. Social Science and Medicine. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.07.060.
  • Bisung, E., and Elliott, S. J. (2014). Toward a social capital based framework for understanding the water-health nexus. Social Science and Medicine. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.01.042.
  • Schuster-Wallace, C., Elliott, S.J. and Bisung, E. (2014). Implications for development of the water–health nexus” in I. Luginaah Luginaah, N. I and Bezner-Kerr, R (eds.) Geographies of health and development. Ashgate geography of health series. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate.

Book reviews

  • Bangura, T., Bisung, E., Ngai, K., Said. F. A. S., and Scott, S. (2014) Henderson, Jeffrey. (2011). East Asian transformation: On the political economy of dynamism, governance and crisis. Progress in Development Studies, 206-209. doi:10.1177/1464993413517809.
  • Bangura, T., Bisung, E., Ngai, K., Said. F. A. S., and Scott, S. (2014) Anthony, Payne and Nicola, Phillips. (2010). Development. Progress in Development Studies, 206-209. doi:10.1177/1464993413517809.

Presentations

  • Rishworth, A., Bisung, E and Luginaah, I (2016) “It’s like a disease: women’s perceptions of cesarean sections in Ghana’s Upper West Region. Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting. San Francisco, March 29 – April 2, 2016
  • Bisung, E, and Elliott, S (2015) Exploring psychosocial impacts of the lack of access to safe water and sanitation in Usoma, Kenya. Poster Presented at the Canadian Conference on Global Health. Montreal, Quebec. November 5-7, 2015
  • Dixon, J., Elliott, S. J., Bisung, E. (2015) Measuring what Matters: toward a global index of wellbeing. Paper Presented at the Africa 2015 MDG Conference. Champaign, May 19 - 22, 2015
  • Elliott, S. J., Bisung, E. and Dixon, J. (2015) Measuring what matters on a global scale: developing a global index of wellbeing (GLOWING). Paper Presented at the 16th International Medical Geography Symposium. Vancouver, BC July 6-10, 2015
  • Bisung, E., Susan S. J. and Diana K. M. (2015) Are poor communities too poor for pro-poor water programs in Kenya? Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting. Chicago, Illinois. April 21 – April 25, 105
  • Bisung, E., Elliott S. J. and Schuster-Wallace, C. J. (2014). Social capital, collective action and access to water in rural Kenya. Poster Presented at the 5th Biennal conference of the International Association of Ecology and Health. Montreal, August 11-15.
  • Bisung, E., Elliott S. J. and Schuster-Wallace, C. J. (2014). Making water-health linkages visible: A photovoice exploration of local knowledge, attitudes and practices around water-health linkages in rural Kenya. Canadian Association of Geographers Annual Meeting. St Cathrines, Ontario May 26 – May 30.
  • Bisung, E., Neil, M. and Heather, S. (2012). To use or not to use? Understanding the culture of public space at Laurier. Poster Presented at the Faculty of Arts Poster Symposium. Wilfred Laurier University March 28, 2012.
  • Bisung, E. (2012). Financing health care at the local level in Ghana. Paper Presented at the Canadian Association of Geographers-Ontario Division (CAGONT) Annual Meeting. Lakehead University, Orillia. October 21-22, 2011.

Awards

  • Recipient of the 2024 Emerging Distinguished African Scholar Award in recognition of pioneering contributions to African geography. 

  • Recipient of the 2024 Julian M. Szeicz Award.