Research Team: Erin Mordecai, PhD, Stanford Biology; Eloise Skinner, PhD, Stanford Biology; Erika Veidis, MBA, Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Health; Érika Pellegrino, MD, Health in Harmony; Clarissa Martins, PhD, Health in Harmony; Nina Finley, MSc, Health in Harmony; Sakib Burza, PhD, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Funders: Woods Institute for the Environment, Center for Innovation in Global Health

Researchers from Stanford are partnering with SAMA Health In Harmony, a nonprofit with a record of successful planetary health interventions, to improve environmental and human health within four rainforest territories in the Xingu River Basin in Pará State, Brazil.

By working towards understanding the link between deforestation and malaria transmission, the project aims to tackle both environmental degradation and human health issues simultaneously. In addition, by focusing on specific rainforest territories in Brazil’s Xingu River Basin, this research has the potential to serve as a model that can be replicated and applied to other low-resourced rural communities facing similar challenges.

“It is compelling to think that the health of the Amazon rainforest impacts the health of our entire planet, yet the immediate effects of deforestation are felt none more so than by the local communities,” said Co-PI Dr. Eloise Skinner. “This research is exciting because it is working with a non-profit organization experienced in community-designed solutions that target the root causes of deforestation and directly improve human health outcomes.”