She doesn't know her age, but she's definitely a grandmother! Alica Gonanga is a Pygmy: one of these groups of hunter-gatherer-fishermen in Central Africa who are now facing increasing insecurity and whose culture is threatened. The major public health issues among Pygmies are alcoholism, drugs, the geographical distance from health centres, poverty that prevents them from accessing health and hygiene products and mistrust of modern medicine. Poverty is explained by unpaid work among the Pygmy population more prevalent than among other neighbouring villagers, as are human rights abuses and violations against them. They were only granted the right to vote in the Central African Republic in 2006, but the Pygmy people are still not recognized as an indigenous people. Pygmies traditionally practice a form of nomadic life and despite progressively settling, they still possess highly important material knowledge of the forest and various private actors and NGOs seek this vital expertise. They move between temporary camps whose leaf huts are built by women such as Alica Gonanga.