August

Médecins Sans Frontières: Chasing COVID-19 in the Brazilian Amazon (8-3-20)

August 7, 2020

In AAA-SALSA COVID-19 Taskforce, COVID-19 Lowland South America

Médecins Sans Frontières: Chasing COVID-19 in the Brazilian Amazon

Médecins Sans Frontières

8-3-20

In Manaus, the waters of the Negro and Solimões rivers meet, forming the colossal Amazon river. As the epidemic peaked and then stabilised in the state’s capital, the disease had already been silently spreading upriver and into the rainforest.“At first there were infrequent one-off calls of alarm about COVID-19 cases coming from remote and riverside communities in the Amazon basin,” explains Dounia Dekhili, MSF head of mission in Brazil. “For many years there has been a significant underinvestment in health and welfare infrastructure and resources in this region. The vast distances and lack of transport options result in major challenges to follow the epidemiological spread, and also ensure timely referrals for patients in need of more complex medical care. We knew we needed to better understand the epidemic situation in the forest, but this is a very vulnerable and sensitive area, where the ‘do no harm’ principle applies in a rather unique way. There was a need to ensure COVID-19 treatment capacity accessibly close to the riverside and indigenous communities, but there was also a need to avoid bringing the disease right into the heart of these communities.”