Social support, food security and medical care

In collaboration with colleagues at Organic Health Response and UCSF, we examine the impacts of social support groups in providing community support to entire social networks as a solution to both health and environmental challenges affecting communities. The innovative kanyakala program, meaning togetherness in Dholuo, has provided for improved engagement in HIV care and treatment. Further work with this programming platform has developed nutrition programming and food security programming. With an evaluation nested in the Mfangano cohort, we aim to understand the effects of social network programming and the extent to which social network groups can buffer against food insecurity in the face of changing resource availability and livelihoods. In reviewing global agriculture-nturition interventions, we examine the environmental and livelihood dimensions of these strategies.

Example projects:  

  • Fiorella, KJ, Chen, R, Milner, EM, Fernald, LCH. 2016. Agricultural Interventions for Improved Nutrition: A Review of Environmental and Livelihood Dimensions. Global Food Security. 8: 39-47.
  • Fiorella, KJ, Gavenus, ER, Milner, EM, Moore, M, Wilson-Anumudu, F, Adhiambo, F, Mattah, B, Bukusi, E, Fernald, LCH. 2019. Evaluation of a social-network intervention on child feeding knowledge and practices. Maternal & Child Nutrition. 15(3): e12782.
  • DeLorme, A, Gavenus, E, Salmen, C, Benard, GO, Mattah, B, Bukusi, E, Fiorella, KJ. 2018. Nourishing Networks: A social-ecological analysis of a network intervention for improving household nutrition in Western Kenya. Social Science & Medicine. 197: 95-103.
  • Chang, A, Fiorella, KJ, Hickey, MD, Salmen, CR, Bukusi, EA, Cohen, CR, Auerswald, CL. 2018. Marginalization and community perception of HIV care, treatment, and support on Mfangano Island, Kenya. Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, & Action. 12(2): 121-133.
  • Hickey, MD, Omollo, DO, Salmen, CR, Mattah, B, Blat, C, Ouma, GB, Fiorella, KJ, et al. 2016. Movement between facilities for HIV care among a mobile population in Kenya: transfer, loss to follow-up and re-engagement. AIDS Care. 28(11):1386-1393.
  • Salmen, CR, Hickey, MD, Fiorella, KJ, Omollo, D, et al. 2015. “Wan Kanyakla” (We are together): Community Transformation in Kenya Following a Social Network Intervention for HIV Care and Treatment. Social Science & Medicine. 147: 332-340.
  • Hickey, MD, Salmen, CR, Omollo, DO, Mattah, B, Fiorella, KJ, et al. 2014. Pulling the network together: Quasiexperimental Trial of a Patient-Defined Support Network Intervention for Promoting Engagement in HIV Care and Medication Adherence on Mfangano Island, Kenya. JAIDS. 69(4): 127-134.
  • Nagata, JM, Fiorella, KJ, Salmen, CR, Hickey, MD, Mattah, B, Magerenge, R, et al. 2014. Around the table: Food insecurity, socio-economic status, and instrumental social support among women living in a rural Kenyan island community. Ecology of Food and Nutrition. 54(4): 358-369.
  • Nagata, JM, Fiorella, KJ, Young, SL, Otieno, OD, Ijaa, K, Bukusi, EA, Cohen, CR. 2013. Socio-demographic and health associations with body mass index at the time of enrollment to HIV care in Nyanza Province, Kenya. AIDS Care. 25(12): 1491-1498.
  • Bellan, SE, Fiorella, KJ, Melesse, DY, Getz, WM, Williams, BG, Dushoff, J. 2013. Extra-Couple HIV Transmission in Sub-Saharan Africa: a mathematical modeling study of survey data. Lancet. 381(9877): 1561-1569.