In 1998 Fensptec began its activities to support the Sergio Arouca National School of Public Health (Ensp/Fiocruz). Four years later, in 2002, the institution became Fiotec, a foundation that provides support to the entire ensemble of Fiocruz units. This month Fiotec completes 25 years of history.
In 2005, a few years after its foundation, the first partnership between Fiotec and Fiocruz took place, officializing and detailing the nature of the relation between the two institutions. Since then, the partnership has made it possible to carry out important projects and programs in Brazil and abroad. In 2009, qualified to work as a Social Organization (OS in the Portuguese acronym), Fiotec began its management contract with the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Government, for the administration of the Manguinhos Health Unit. Health services provided to the population were, for years, an important part of the Teias-Manguinhos project developed by Ensp/Fiocruz with the communities that surround the Foundation campus.
The following decade had important milestones in store Fiotec, such as the inauguration of its regional office in Brasília, in 2012. That same year, discussions were already under way to build the headquarters for the institution, which had been, until then, working within the Fiocruz Expansion building. In October 2015, Fiotec professionals got to know the building that would be their new headquarters, in the current Fiocruz Maré campus, in Rio de Janeiro.
Over these 25 years, Fiotec has supported relevant projects such as the Wolbachia method to control the transmission of arbovirus diseases in Brazil. The institution has also contributed to the implementation of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PreP) in the fight against HIV/AIDS, to the shared management of the CUIDA Chagas consortium, with the goal of ending mother-to-child transmission of the disease during pregnancy, and many other research lines and initiatives that make a difference when it comes to the well-being of Brazilians.
More recently, in the most critical moments of the coronavirus pandemic, Fiotec managed the project that made it possible to transfer technology to produce the AstraZeneca vaccine in Brazil, in the Bio-Manguinhos laboratories. Later, once the project was concluded, Fiocruz began producing its own Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API), therefore ensuring the development of its 100% Brazilian Covid-19 vaccine, regularly distributed to the Unified Health System (SUS).
A day of acknowledgement and celebration
An event on March 23, the day on which the institution was founded, brought together all Fiotec administrative professionals, in addition to Fiocruz representatives and guests. Directors Hayne Felipe, Marcelo Amaral and Mansur Campos welcomed Priscila Ferraz, Fiocruz Executive Director, on to the stage. In her speech, Ferraz mentioned the important partnership between Fiotec and Fiocruz, especially during the emergency period of the Covid-19 pandemic. At the time, she was still working at Bio-Manguinhos and emphasized the crucial work carried out by Fiotec to make sure the vaccine was administered to every Brazilian as soon as possible.
Gratitude to and acknowledgement of Fiotec professionals for their work during the pandemic were also in the spotlight of the speech of every director of the institution, who also underscored its management based on transparency and collectivity.
The speeches were followed by the tributes that are by now a tradition at Fiotec, to celebrate professionals who have worked for the institution for 10, 15 and 20 years. The ceremony was closed with the showing of a commemorative video for the foundation’s 25 years of work, in which the employees were the protagonists. The video is available on Fiotec’s YouTube channel.
