Brazil: Government promotes support and service missions to indigenous people

On a weekly radio program, the vice president also commented on fighting fires and asked for support from the population

Since March, the Federal Government has made more than R $ 125 million available to serve indigenous people - Photo: Agência Brasil

Sep 21, Health Surveillance: Indigenous communities across the country have received special attention from the Federal Government during the period of social distance due to Covid-19. The subject was the theme, this Monday (21st), of the weekly radio program Por Dentro da Amazônia, by the vice president of the Republic and president of the National Council for the Legal Amazon, general Hamilton Mourão, who spoke with the Special Secretary for Health Indigenous (SESAI), Robson Santos Silva.

The secretary pointed out that, since March, due to the coronavirus, the Federal Government has made available more than R $ 125 million to serve the indigenous people. These resources were used, for example, in the purchase of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), such as face masks, 70% alcohol, tests for diagnosing the disease, as well as personal hygiene products.

In order to provide better assistance to the indigenous people, SESAI also expanded the work teams, currently formed by 14 thousand professionals who serve the indigenous people in their territories, in addition to creating new primary health care units.

"We also authorized the hiring of overtime flights, food surveillance actions in partnership with other agencies," he said. The secretary also spoke about the creation of rapid response teams, the anticipation of vaccination of the indigenous population, especially against influenza, the opening of special indigenous wards in hospitals and various joint missions with other agencies. According to the Special Secretary for Indigenous Health, so far, at least eight integrated collective missions of indigenous health have been carried out to combat the coronavirus.

One of the missions carried out in partnership with the Ministry of Defense is being developed in Maranhão and is divided into three phases. The first, from September 15th to 21st, takes place in Barra do Corda. The second takes place from September 21 to 28 and will continue to the municipalities of Santa Inês and Zé Doca. The third, from September 28 to October 5, will serve populations in the municipalities of Grajaú, Arame and Amarante.

On-site, health professionals will provide care. In addition, about 1.5 tons of medicines and PPE were sent, in addition to 60 thousand medicines and 32 thousand equipment and tests to Covid-19.

SESAI

SESAI is an institution linked to the Ministry of Health, responsible for developing health care and sanitation actions aimed at indigenous villagers, who today are made up of 755 thousand Brazilians, of 305 ethnic groups, distributed in six thousand villages. The state of the Amazon concentrates 60% of this population.

Other actions aimed at indigenous people

The National Indian Foundation (Funai), linked to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, has also been developing a series of actions to combat the coronavirus. Among the measures, is the delivery of more than 420 thousand basic food baskets to indigenous people across the country in situations of social vulnerability. The initiative contributes to food security for families and for them to remain in the villages, avoiding infection by the disease.

Funai has also delivered 69 hygiene and cleaning kits to the indigenous people and distributed seedlings, seeds and tools to support the traditional activities of the indigenous people, thus contributing to the generation of income for families. The Foundation also participates in 311 health barriers to prevent non-indigenous people from entering these territories.

Operation Green Brazil 2

In the weekly radio program Por Dentro da Amazônia, Hamilton Mourão also highlighted the work to fight fire and deforestation in the Legal Amazon that has been carried out by the Ministry of Defense's Operation Verde Brasil 2. “This campaign does not stop. It continues throughout the Legal Amazon. And, once again, I take the opportunity to reinforce the importance of the collaboration of everyone living in the Amazon. May we remain vigilant ”, he reinforced.

The vice president stressed the importance of residents of the region reporting and collaborating with the teams' work. “Denounce and collaborate with the work of the teams that are leading this fight against deforestation and fires. To inform about fires, call the Fire Department, at 193, and for rural fires, report it on 0800 618080 and through the Guardians of the Amazon application. This application is being very useful. In a short time, all users contributed, ”he said.

He also asked residents of these regions to reduce the use of fire, especially in the region of burning. “This only harms people's health and ends up damaging our country's image. Even more, it damages our relationship with other countries and, even more, it harms Brazil's trade. It harms the sales of each of the landowners who live in this region, ”warned the vice president.

Operation Verde Brasil 2, which began in May, works to combat and suppress environmental crimes in the Legal Amazon. The actions take place in frontier strips, indigenous lands, federal environmental conservation units and other federal areas in the region. It is coordinated by the Vice President of the Republic and has the support of environmental control and public safety bodies, such as the Federal Police, the Federal Highway Police, the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources Institute (Ibama) and the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (ABIN).