In celebration of Fiocruz’s 122nd anniversary, on May 25, the Covid-19 Observatory promoted today (6/2) the webinar “The Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil – overview and challenges”. The President of Fiocruz Nísia Trindade participated in the meeting, in addition to experts Carlos Machado (ENSP/Fiocruz), Margareth Dalcolmo (ENSP/Fiocruz), Julio Croda (Fiocruz/MS), Ana Lúcia Pontes (ENSP/Fiocruz), Fernando Bozza (INI/Fiocruz), and Maria Helena Machado (ENSP/Fiocruz).
Nísia Trindade opened the event by congratulating Fiocruz employees for the highly relevant work carried out during the pandemic. The president warned the moment of high transmission that Brazil is in, besides she also promoted a reflection on immunization against Covid-19 and the importance of strengthening health systems.
During the event, experts discussed the fight against the pandemic in Brazil, especially in scenarios where the population is exposed to situations of vulnerability, such as community residents, indigenous people and health workers. According to Carlos Machado, the confrontation was only possible by combining information with a science communication strategy, since the country faced a wave of disinformation.
Dalcomo recalled the Foundation's role, from manufacturing and researching vaccines to disseminating truthful information to society as a whole. “In addition to informing, we deconstructed a lot of information that would be misleading our community and, in a way, we hindered individual and collective actions that could have been taken”, he said. The pulmonologist also spoke about the recognition of the population for the work of public institutions, which has increased in recent years.
Fernando presented data on the impacts of the intervention to control the virus in communities in Rio de Janeiro, which resulted in an increase in the population that suffers from food insecurity, school absence, among others. According to the figures, the intervention increased case detection by 40% in the Maré favela, compared to the communities of Cidade de Deus, Rocinha and Mangueira. The same study pointed out that deaths were reduced by 75% between 2020 and 2021.
Ana Lúcia and Maria Helena discussed the inequality in the impacts caused by Covid-19, which varies according to population characteristics. Ana spoke about indigenous peoples who, especially at the beginning of the pandemic, were exposed to vulnerabilities. Maria called attention to health workers, who were not only more exposed to the contagion, but also to physical and mental exhaustion.
Julio Croda closed the event talking about the lengthy response to the disease, which could have been faster with the sharing of true information.
