Sandi and 2017 MPH graduate Ms. Jillian Kadota

Women in Shinyanga carrying firewood. Photo by J. Kadota.

Congratulations to the UC Berkeley School of Public Health Class of 2017! Our team's graduates will enter the workforce as newly minted epidemiologists and many will share their research this summer at national and international scientific meetings. Jillian Kadota is one such student. As part of her MPH summer internship, she spearheaded a multidisciplinary study in Tanzania to understand the effects of heavy load carrying on women's health. Jillian collected qualitative and quantitative information from women about how much water, wood, or other substances they carry every day and their self-reported health. She also weighed their loads, took pictures and videos to characterize their posture and gait, and asked a subset of women to wear personal devices to capture biometric data. With this information she plans to assess the potential health effects of heavy load carrying. This is an especially salient topic in East Africa where mechanized transportation is scarce and women and girls bear most of the carrying burden. Furthermore, musculoskeletal injuries - often related to carrying heavy loads - comprise the largest burden of disease globally; both the 1990 and 2013 Global Burden of Disease studies listed low back pain as the number one contributor to years lost to disability (YLD). You can read more about her work here and in an upcoming publication.