Photo of Pamela by Katie Fiorella
PhD student Katie Fiorella took this photo of her host mother Pamela while traveling on Lake Victoria from Mfangano Island, Kenya to the tiny fishing outpost called Remba. Pamela’s background as a community health worker has been useful for Katie, whose research focuses on the link between wildlife harvest and health outcomes. Katie states:
Pamela’s composure as we ride by boat to Remba Island hardly belies the activist who, as an advisory member for Organic Health Response and a leader among the Community Health Workers, endeavors tirelessly to improve her community’s health and expose the challenges she and her neighbors experience. Of particular salience in her community are both the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, and the expansive Nile Perch fishery’s coincidence with high food insecurity.