31
August
Brazil bars Doctors Without Borders COVID-19 help to indigenous villages (8-20-20)
August 31, 2020
Brazil bars Doctors Without Borders COVID-19 help to indigenous villages
Reuters
8-20-20
The Brazilian government has not allowed Médecins Sans Frontières to provide assistance to prevent and detect suspected cases of COVID-19 in seven villages of the Terena indigenous tribe in southern Brazil, the medical NGO said on Thursday. MSF, or Doctors Without Borders, presented a plan to assist the seven communities with about 5,000 inhabitants, adding in a statement that it had been invited to help by tribal leaders. Instead, the government’s indigenous health agency Sesai authorized its own doctors to assist another village with 1,000 inhabitants, where it said COVID-19 cases were more prevalent.