Lead Program Consultant to Travel to Kazakhstan to Study Exposure to Lead Hazards    
 
Gwen Smith, right, stands with Penny Campbell, creator of the Kilimanjaro Scholarship, at an award ceremony where Smith was presented with the scholarship. Smith plans to travel to Kazakhstan to study children's exposure to lead hazards.
Gwendylon Smith, program consultant in the Georgia Lead Hazard Control Program at the Georgia Department of Public Health, was recently awarded the Agnes Scott College Kilimanjaro Scholarship.

The Kilimanjaro Award was established by Penny Campbell, a Charles A. Dana Professor Emerita of History at Agnes Scott College, in memory of Marie Ewers and Welford Shepard Campbell and in honor of Seaborn Phillips Jones. It is awarded to a student or recent alumna and its intended to encourage travel abroad to observe the customs, mores, folkways and religions of the people, or to learn the language or improve fluency in the language of the country. The study/travel must be focused on Africa, the Middle East or Asia.

Smith will use the scholarship to travel to Kazakhstan to study the blood lead levels of children who live in the vicinity of a lead smelter in the city of Shymkent, and to discuss measures used in the state of Georgia to reduce blood lead levels in children under 6 years old and their exposure to lead hazards.

"Winning this award will afford me the opportunity to use what I have learned academically and professionally to help children who have been exposed to lead hazards," said Smith. "In addition, I will have an opportunity to meet with my peers in Shymkent, Kazakhstan and to learn and share information about our common problem of childhood lead poisoning."

The pathways of lead poisoning into the body and the effect of lead on a child's neurological system is the same in Kazakhstan as it is here in the U.S.  However, to assume that the health education methods used in the U.S. to reach out to primary care providers, daycare facilities and parents would work in Kazakhstan could be seen as insensitive and lead to miscommunication.

"It is important to take a community's history, culture and religion into consideration when attempting as an outsider to address health issues that affect their lives," said Smith.  "I believe this perspective will allow me to gain and promote cultural understanding."

Smith hopes to travel to Kazakhstan in September 2012.

-Story by Kimberly Stringer, DPH Communications

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