EP176 Tanzania Fieldwork: Climate Change and Systems Thinking with Bethel Abraham and Sona Fall

About this episode

This episode features Bethel Abraham and Sona Fall discussing their public health fieldwork in Tanzania, focusing on waterborne diseases and waste management.

In this episode, we speak with Master of Public Health students Bethel Abraham and Sona Fall about their study abroad course in Tanzania, which focused on low-cost strategies for waterborne diseases and waste management. We explore their journeys from pre-med backgrounds to public health—Sona's pivot occurred after realizing she could impact lives outside a clinic, while Bethel moved toward systemic change after witnessing the political and healthcare systems affecting children in emergency units. They share how their work with the Applied Global Public Health Initiative (AGPHI) led them to Dar es Salaam. Bethel and Sona detail their work alongside UNICEF and the Ministry of Health, describing an environment where health officials took time off their jobs to learn as equals with students. They discuss the "unlearning" required after their initial focus on malaria and cholera shifted; upon arriving at the Azimio Ward, they found their bus blocked by a massive puddle of standstill water and realized residents prioritized waste management over disease data. By using systems mapping to visualize community outcomes, they pivoted their interventions to address the lack of…

People in this episode

Guests: Bethel Abraham, Sona Fall

Topics covered

• climate change
• public health
• waterborne diseases
• waste management
• systems thinking
• study abroad

Keywords

• public health
• Tanzania
• waterborne diseases
• waste management
• systems thinking
• UNICEF
• healthcare systems

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: UNICEF, Ministry of Health, Applied Global Public Health Initiative

Places: Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, Azimio Ward

More episodes of I AM GPH

• EP181 The Nexus of Food, Water, and Climate with Dr. Abrania Marrero and Chloe Dourmashkin · April 23, 2026 · 36 min
• EP180 Service is Joy: Building a Career in Community Advocacy with Gail Viaje · April 9, 2026 · 30 min
• EP179 Policy Analysis for Community Benefit with Dr. Jo Ivey Boufford and Reilly Fitzpatrick · March 26, 2026 · 32 min
• EP178 Biostatistical Collaboration and Consultation Core (BC3) with Fred Lei and Kofi Agyabeng · February 26, 2026 · 34 min
• EP177 Building Research Skills for Community Impact with Whitney Rigodon · February 12, 2026 · 30 min
• EP175 Lead, Literacy, and Livelihoods: Environmental Health Education with Kate Porterfield · December 4, 2025 · 37 min