Around 200,000 people from 8 cities in the state of Rio de Janeiro – Niterói, São Gonçalo, Angra dos Reis, Duque de Caxias, São João de Meriti, Queimados and Petrópolis were directly benefited by the Plan to Combat Covid-19 and its impacts on favelas and outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, with actions developed by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz). To mark the State Mobilization Day to Combat Covid-19 and its Impacts in these territories, Fiocruz presented the results of the plan’s performance from August 2021 to December 2022, in the plenary of the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro (Alerj) . The intention of the plan was to promote the right to health in places where part of the most vulnerable population in the state lives, with the bias of supporting social technologies for the Unified Health System (SUS). According to the data, 80% of the projects developed work to combat hunger and the right to food. In all, R$ 17 million released by Alerj, with the approval of law 8972/20, authored by state deputy Renata Souza (Psol), for the joint action of Fiocruz, the Federal universities of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio (Puc-Rio), the Brazilian Association of Collective Health (Abrasco), the Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science (SBPC) and organizations from favelas across the state. For the executive coordinator of the Fiocruz Plan to Combat Covid-19 in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, Richarllis Martins, who presented the results, the initiative was central to facing the pandemic, especially guaranteeing the principle of social participation in the SUS and in the fight against hunger. “This demonstrates how civil society, in partnership with the public authorities, presents qualified and innovative responses to face this, which is the main problematic issue in the field of health and social assistance in our country.” In the view of Fiocruz’s institutional relations adviser, public health physician Valcler Rangel, the activities carried out made the fight against the disease more successful than just the state acting through the SUS. According to Rangel, in the favela of Maré, where Fiocruz developed, in partnership with the Rio Municipal Health Department, a mass vaccination project, there was a reduction in mortality. “There was a mortality rate twice as high as in Rio de Janeiro. “Data published in scientific articles demonstrate that this type of action is effective not only in times of crisis in the health issue”, he said. Among the actions, there was the training of popular communication agents to combat fake news and denialism. Actions extended to food security, with the distribution of 315 tons of food to families in poverty and extreme poverty. Gas cylinders were also distributed. In the construction and maintenance of solidarity kitchens, R$ 250 thousand were invested. The average cost R$ 4.16 for each meal. In the area of work and income for the reintegration of people into the job market, around 1,000 participants were impacted, mostly women and black people. In the search for sustainable and healthy territories, projects were carried out of social, economic and environmental development with a focus on agroecological urban agriculture, full use of food, gardening courses and knowledge of community gardens. In education, there were school reinforcement actions and reversal of student dropout with the involvement of 8200 children and adolescents from the slums. Plan In addition to the projects developed in the 8 municipalities, other actions also benefited communities in another 27 municipalities. For the Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade, the model coincides with the proposal to unite various departments and agencies of the federal government to develop improvements in the living conditions of populations in slums and peripheries. “It is not nationalizing this project. The intention is a national policy in all territories. It will be an inter-ministerial action and this project is one of the main references”, highlighted the minister, in a ceremony she announced that the sanitary doctor Valcler Rangel, advisor for institutional relations at Fiocruz, will occupy the position of special advisor to the Ministry of Health. Nísia highlighted that it is necessary to unite around projects to reinforce democracy in the country. “An effective democracy will be impossible if we do not face the issue of Justice in favelas and peripheries with multiple social policies. This is the commitment that I want to leave here very firm and strong, “she said. According to Nísia, the Ministry of Health will not work in offices or alone, because the idea is to have a large national network to strengthen the SUS. “[Isso] It will only be done with the strong participation of the science of social movements and, finally, of democracy in its full sense. Long live the SUS, long live this powerful movement, long live democracy”, he added. The National Secretary of Policies for Peripheral Territories of the Ministry of Cities, Guilherme Simões, said that the model of the plan mobilizes a lot of what is intended for the formulation of the national policy for peripheral territories. He recalled that the secretariat was created with the beginning of the current government and that is why the course of action is still being defined. Still, he believes the plan is a good way to go. “I’m sure this is one of the experiences we want to take to all peripheral territories of this country. We come from the periphery, the hood and the favela. We are often criminalized and our territories are seen as territories of abandonment, absence, deficit, and it is real, this is also true. We know it well, but above all what this project is showing here is that we are power. We can do a lot,” he said.
Agência Brasil
Folha Nobre - Desde 2013 - ©