This Friday (4/12), with the support of the Ministry of Health (MS) and the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and participation of Fiocruz, the Department of Health of the State of Goiás (SES) and the municipality of São Luís de Montes Belos (GO) promoted the seminar World Chagas Disease Day: Celebrating 115 years of the discovery and commitment to health, which takes place next Sunday (4/14). The event gathered national, state and municipal managers, health professionals, community leaders, researchers and the professor emeritus of the Federal University of Goiás (UFG), Alejandro Luquetti. The meeting aimed to contribute to the strengthening of the existing agendas based on reflections on the different strategies to ensure the care to all people and communities affected or under risk of the Chagas disease.
One of the highlights of the event was the launch of project IntegraChagas Brasil, coordinated by the Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Diseases (INI/Fiocruz). One of the coordinators of the project, Alberto Novaes explained that, throughout this week, IntegraChagas Brasil performed qualifications in the municipality of São Luís de Montes Belos, with over 200 health professionals, aiming to create flows and aptitude for the work of detection, diagnostic, treatment and full attention to the Chagas disease.
Another highlight was the presentation of the data of project CUIDAChagas, also coordinated by INI/Fiocruz, on the triage promoted since the implementation research. According to the project’s Communication manager, Javier Abi-Saab, by last Thursday (4/11), CUIDAChagas had already tested 4,783 people in the five participating municipalities in the country. Out of the group, 84 people had a positive result to the Chagas disease, which means that there was an estimated prevalence of 2.3%, data to be confirmed through serological evidence.
The seminar also allowed guests to learn about the work regarding the Chagas disease developed by the Department of Health of the State of Goiás, by the PAHO and the Ministry of Health. According to the director of the Department of Health Surveillance at SES, Flúvia Amorim, Goiás has been taking a lead role in the construction of public policies directed to the Chagas disease, especially in the surveillance of chronic cases of the disease and testing pre-natal and the children exposed. “Furthermore, we have the support for the development of important research for the country, including project IntegraChagas Brasil (developed in the municipality hosting the event - São Luís de Montes Belos) and project CUIDA Chagas (in the municipality of Paraúna), both related to the Brazilian Ministry of Health and selected from the context of vulnerability to the chronic Chagas disease,” highlighted Flúvia.
