When it comes to completing a master's thesis, few public health students turn to the medium of film.
Jonathan P. Smith, M.P.H. '11, did and the creative approach has earned him a prize from an international organization dedicated to global health.
Smith's documentary -- They Go to Die -- traces the plight of four former migrant gold miners in South Africa and Swaziland who contracted drug-resistant tuberculosis and HIV while working in the mines. With few prospects, the workers are eventually forced to return to their rural homes where, left with little access to health care, they eventually die.
Smith traveled to South Africa as part of his 2010 summer internship with the School of Public Health and again in the spring of 2011 where he visited the ailing men in their homes to capture the health and challenges faced by each.
Published: Tuesday, November 15, 2011
