Remote communities in Brazil’s Amazon region face major obstacles to good health and healthcare services thanks to long distances, difficult transportation and communication, and poor sanitary conditions. The Projeto Saúde e Alegria (“Health and Happiness Project”) is working to overcome these obstacles by building “healthy communities” based on a primary healthcare approach and with active community participation.

Fábio Lambertini Tozzi, coordinador of Projeto Saúde e Alegria, visited PAHO headquarters this week to present the project’s work in three river communities in western Pará that are home to 30,000 people. The project provides training for community health workers and midwives, mobilizes educational and prevention campaigns, and promotes basic sanitation using appropriate technologies. Specific improvements include the installation of radios to report health problems and share information, ambulance boat fleets to transport emergency patients, and mobile health clinics that take basic health services to the people who need them. 

For more information, visit http://www.saudeealegria.org.br/portal/