What are the health needs and challenges?

Isolated indigenous communities in Brazil receive basic preventive health care from the government, but there are many operational difficulties related to difficult access to communities, serious cases, as well as elective surgeries depend on transfer to medical centers in the region.

In these regions there is a high incidence of degenerative eye diseases such as cataracts or pterygium, as well as hernias and other conditions that arise within a community that relies on their physical strength.

The lack of standards of care in medical centers is also a reality. Health centers do not always come with high-end technologies and medical experts generally deal with overcrowding. Thus, only the severe cases can be treated and the queue is long.

Partnership activities and how they address needs and challenges

Expedicionários da Saúde (EDS) is a Brazilian non-for profit organization established in 2003 by a group of physicians who volunteered to bring specialty medical care and surgical care to isolated regions, benefiting indigenous populations. In 2012, this NGO  gained  Pfizer  support, this contributing to improve the infrastructure in indigenous communities, load transportation, logistics for the medical team, fuel to transport patients and with meals for patients and teams.