Yovitha Sedekia

Yovitha is a social scientist who joined the Mwanza Intervention Trials Unit (MITU) in October 2020 as a post-doctoral Research Fellow. She holds a BA in Sociology from University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, and a MSc in Public Health in Developing Countries, and a PhD both from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK. Before joining MITU she worked as a research scientist at the Ifakara Health Institute.

Yovitha has more than 10-year research experience in a range of maternal and child health care projects. Since joining MITU in October 2020, she has been involved in various activities including analysis of qualitative data from completed MITU projects and drafting of manuscripts; new research grant applications; and coordination of MITU communication team. She is currently working closely with Drs Elialilia Okello and Saidi Kapiga on the analysis of data from a parental engagement component of a school-based program for handwashing with soap to prevent helminths infection among school children in North West Tanzania. She is also working with Drs Musa Nsanya and Saidi Kapiga on a multi-country study of adolescent health check-ups in low- and middle-income countries (Y-Check study).