Unicamp helps indigenous people on the coast of São Paulo in the fight against coronavirus

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Coordination with Unicamp, the Butantan Institute, Funai, the Guarani Yvyrupa Commission and the Secretariat of Indigenous Health (Sesai)

One of the arms of the Unicamp Task Force, created to help with actions against the pandemic, is to collaborate with the health of vulnerable populations. Therefore, based on a collaboration that brought together the university, the Butantan Institute, Funai, the Guarani Yvyrupa Commission and the Secretariat of Indigenous Health (Sesai), a team of researchers left Campinas at the end of August to support villages on the south coast. paulista. The group's objective goes far beyond just carrying out diagnostic tests among members of the indigenous population. It also encompasses a social and multidisciplinary approach. 

“We held conversation circles with the aim of raising awareness among the population about the problem and talking about the ways that exist to block the transmission of the virus, such as social distancing, washing hands and wearing a mask. Our intention is to continue monitoring these villages”, says Paulo Abati, an infectious disease doctor at the Faculty of Medical Sciences (FCM) at Unicamp who specializes in indigenous health. 

The realities of the Guarani communities in the municipality of Mongaguá help to add tension to the problem caused by the pandemic, according to Abati. All groups, as they have little area for farming, hunting and gathering food, frequently need to visit the city. “The flow of travel between the villages and the city has dropped significantly, but being 100% isolated is not possible,” says Abati. According to the expert, one of the major impacts of the pandemic among indigenous people could be ethnocide. “A cultural element in villages is the oral transmission of knowledge from the elderly to the youngest. There is no record in books. The impact of the disease on the elderly could result in the death of part of the indigenous culture”, says the infectious disease specialist.

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Team provides care on the coast: Objective, in addition to diagnostic tests, also involves a social and multidisciplinary approach

Despite all the difficulties, the results of the diagnostic tests carried out by Unicamp show that the majority of communities are managing to protect themselves. In Aldeia Aguapeu, 90% of the community was tested, because the rest were in the city. Among the 67 people who agreed to be tested using the swab method (special cotton swab), one result was positive and two others were inconclusive. “The chief and his parents refused to take the test because of the discomfort,” says Abati. 

In two other villages, Tangará and Aldeinha, the 80 tests carried out were negative. While in the first location 100% of the population underwent the test, on the second visit 7 indigenous people, out of a total of 42 local residents, did not want to take the exam. “We operate without an ethnocentric vision. With a lot of dialogue and cultural humility”, says the Unicamp doctor. According to him, support for villages should soon also extend to the Vale do Ribeira region.

“An action like this has a lot of meaning for the university. Indigenous people are neglected populations and one of the groups most affected by the pandemic”, says public health doctor Silvia Santiago, who also participated in organizing support for indigenous people on the south coast of São Paulo. “It is a culturally respectful action and carried out with the sum of different efforts and knowledge, whether from the medical field or anthropology”, says the Unicamp researcher. “It’s not just testing for the sake of testing. It is epidemiological surveillance work that also involves health education and highlights the importance of public universities”, says Silvia.

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Infectious disease specialist Paulo Abati (left highlighted): "Our intention is to continue monitoring these villages”

The fact that indigenous adherence to the tests was high, explains anthropologist Joana Cabral de Oliveira, has a lot to do with the coordination made to carry out the actions. “There was a very well-structured dialogue with the indigenous people themselves through the inter-village committee, which is also linked to the Guarani Yvyrupa Commission. This articulation greatly explains the success of the actions of the Unicamp Task Force”, says the anthropologist from the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences (IFCH) at Unicamp. In addition to direct conversations with indigenous people, social actions in the villages on the south coast of São Paulo took place in conjunction with federal bodies linked to indigenous people, such as Funai and the groups responsible for the health of these populations.

“The Task Force's social action front has exactly this role of identifying groups, situations and territories where there is greater social vulnerability. And, as was the case in the villages, ensure that the testing capacity developed at Unicamp reaches the places that need it. Everything in a very careful way”, says Sávio Cavalcante, professor at the Department of Sociology at IFCH and coordinator of the social action front of the task force against the coronavirus. 

In addition to indigenous people, says the sociologist, other actions were carried out, for example, in areas of social vulnerability in Sumaré. “Our difference was to carry out mass RT-PCR testing by swab, one of the methods that can most contribute to the effective creation of epidemiological control measures. In this case, the process was successful due to the active cooperation of the SUS indigenous health unit in Mongaguá”, says Cavalcante.

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Professionals carry out examinations on the indigenous population

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