SANDRA THURMAN

Less than 10 miles from Nairobi, the Mukuru slum teams with life. Though lacking in electricity and running water, Mukuru has a vibrant network of 17 villages and community leaders. But on any map of Kenya, this town of 600,000 people does not appear. Together, Rollins’ Interfaith Health Program (IHP) and Mukuru citizens are putting it on the map.

Using global information systems technology and community manpower, IHP staff have identified 282 sites thus far to create a directory of health services. “What this does is give us the information to create a community-led response to HIV/AIDS,” says IHP director Sandra Thurman.

Based in the Hubert Department of Global Health, the IHP partners with the Joseph W. Blount Center for Health and Human Rights, which works with underserved populations, primarily in Africa. Thurman also leads the International AIDS Trust (IAT), an extension of her health policy work in the Clinton administration.

Just recently, the IAT produced a film on orphans in Romania who were infected with AIDS during the late 1980s. Thurman also organized the AIDS Legacy Project to document community response to the epidemic in Atlanta and other cities during the 1980s. The archive will be housed at Emory’s Woodruff Library. Thurman and the IHP staff will continue working with Mukuru to build health capacity that is self-sustaining.

“We can’t underestimate the importance of people understanding where they are on the map and where they are in the world,” says Thurman.