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MAHERY at Harvard University

Harvard University

About Madagascar Health and Environmental Research (MAHERY) at Harvard

There are no greater global concerns than the disappearance and destruction of our planet’s ecosystems and wildlife and the improvement of human health and food security for vulnerable human populations around the world.

Since 2004, our team has been actively researching the intersection of environmental health and human health to understand the ways in which ecosystem transformation has downstream effects on human wellbeing.

Most of our work has centered on estimating the role of bushmeat hunting in both decimating local wildlife populations (lemurs, carnivores, bats, tenrecs, etc.) and also influencing human nutrition and food security. All of our work has always been driven by and embedded in local communities to understand the psychology around illegal wildlife harvesting and to develop a paired vision for future conservation and development.

MAHERY has focused much of its efforts on the following bodies of research:

  1. the impact of overhunting and terrestrial wildlife declines on food security and nutrition
  2. the impact of fisheries management and marine conservation on food security and nutrition
  3. the use of traditional medicines by local people
  4. the practice of pica and geophagy
  5. barriers to accessing healthcare and adequate nutrition
  6. the role of livestock husbandry in securing adequate nutrition
  7. the role of wildlife hunting and consumption in zoonotic disease transmission
  8. the disease ecology of various infectious diseases (i.e. malaria)

In each of these research activities, we have collaborated with local organizations and trained American and Malagasy students to understand how to carry out interdisciplinary research.

Focal lemur species include:

  • Indri indri,
  • Varecia variegata,
  • Daubentonia madagascariensis,
  • Eulemur albifrons,
  • and others.
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