A group of researchers from different areas created material that analyzes Brazil's main problems and challenges arising from the Covid-19 pandemic. The document "The Brazilian tragedy of coronavirus/covid-19: An analysis of the federal government's mismanagement, 2020-2021" presents data and details information regarding the stance adopted by the country's federal administration bodies that would have contributed to the escalation of the pandemic and to economic and social crises. The study was sent to the Covid-19 Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI), installed by the Federal Senate on April 27, to support the discussions held by the senators.
The document was authored by Claudio Dedecca, economist and professor at Unicamp's Institute of Economics (IE), together with Ligia Bahia (doctor specializing in public health), Jamil Chade (journalist), José Maurício Domingues (sociologist), Guilherme Leite Gonçalves (legal sociologist), Monica Herz (social scientist), Leva Lavinas (economist), Carlos Ocké-Reis (economist), María Elena Rodríguez Ortiz (lawyer and sociologist) and Fabiano Santos (political scientist).
Organized into six axes, the document analyzes: the political response of the Presidency of the Republic to the pandemic in the country, observing President Jair Bolsonaro's stance and the Executive's relationship with other powers, states and municipalities; the role of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) and the Judiciary as guarantors of what the Constitution provides; the response given by the Legislature when creating the CPI; issues related to the federal budget to combat the pandemic and aid workers and companies; and also the role played by the Ministries of Health and Foreign Affairs.
According to Claudio Dedecca, the group already maintained close ties due to their academic experience and had been discussing the topics covered by the study for around two months. "The structuring of the document and its rapid production was stimulated by the CPI. When it became clear that it would occur, we organized ourselves to produce and deliver it. This is our role as academics, to put our knowledge at the service of society. At this moment , society manifests itself through the CPI", explains the professor.
The document also exposes data regarding the reduction in the federal budget for health since 2014 and the slow release of resources to combat the pandemic throughout 2020. The material also assesses as negative the stances adopted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that harmed the country's contact with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the acquisition of inputs for the production of vaccines against the coronavirus.
In addition to the objective of presenting an overview of the Brazilian situation that articulates several areas, the document was also prepared to stimulate reflection on the problems that the country will face even after the acute phase of the pandemic has been overcome. "At this very moment, we should already be discussing issues relating to the country's future, something that many countries are already doing. From what we see from health professionals, vaccination will still take a long time, we will have a legacy of people with real problems post-pandemic health situation and high unemployment. We have a big challenge for the future", analyzes Dedecca.
The document "The Brazilian tragedy of coronavirus/covid-19: An analysis of the federal government's mismanagement, 2020-2021" is available in Portuguese, English and Spanish. Claudio Dedecca shares that the group works to ensure that the content is widely disseminated among researchers and institutions in other countries. "We already have contact with a German institution that will disseminate the document, another English institution, and we also received a contact questioning the possibility of us translating it into a French edition", he comments.
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The Brazilian coronavirus/covid-19 tragedy: An analysis of the federal government’s mismanagement, 2020-2021
The tragedy of brazilian coronavirus/covid-19: An analysis of the federal government's misgovernment, 2020-2021
The Brazilian tragedy of coronavirus/covid-19: An analysis of the failure of the federal government, 2020-2021
