Pankararu Health & Culture Project

Pfizer and Associacio Sao de Sem Limites (Unlimited Health Association) have been working together on The Pankararu Health and Culture Project since 2005. The project provides 5,000 Pankararu Indians in townships located in the Borborema Mountain Range, in the arid interior of Pernambuco State, with basic health care information. Pfizer provides both financial and technical support to the program. The Pankararu population also suffers from long droughts, intense social discrimination, clan conflicts and territorial disputes. To address these issues, the project has launched initiatives including diagnosis of the primary illnesses afflicting the population and training Indigenous Health Agents. The young population is also impacted by the project by means of activities focused on sexual education and family planning. One of the initiatives is a program to assist traditional midwives and pregnant women. From 2007 to 2008, the project trained 60 traditional midwives, who provided more than 1,600 prenatal medical appointments and, on average, assisted more than 400 women. The project has also trained 40 Pankararu Indians to act as Indigenous Health Agents. Since the beginning of the project, not a single death has been registered during pregnancy, upon delivery or following a birth.