Amelia Brazier Rymek, International Development and Globalization, 4th year
Country of fieldwork: Brazil
Canadian NGO: Floresta Viva and ASMOBAN
Local NGO: Floresta Viva and ASMOBAN
Healthcare is a subject that I have become incredibly interested in during my time spent in the North-East of Bahia state in a small town of 6,00 people called Serra Grande. Health care is free for all residents of- and visitors to- Brazil. My lack of luck has had me become somewhat familiar with the health care system in town. Offered in the town square is a medical centre that is both used as a hospital for emergency care and doctor’s office for less urgent concerns. There is also an ambulance service available in town that is connected to the centre. Because family doctors are not as common or widely available in Brazil then they are in Canada, especially in a small town like Serra Grande, there is significant use of this centre for a wide variety of medical concerns. The centre is free of cost for both residents of the town and non-nationals like me; all that is required is identification documentation. The wait time is also very efficient, both times I have had to access the clinic I was only waiting for maximum an hour. In addition to the highly efficient medical centre in Serra Grande, pharmaceutical access is efficient and inexpensive. There is a pharmacy connected to the centre that provides many pharmaceuticals free of charge as well, although not all medication is available. If the medication required is not provided at this pharmacy, any other pharmacy in town also provides low-cost medication. Of course, the price of medication and affordability is relative, but in comparison to Canadian medication, when considering currency exchange rates, Brazilian medication is overall more affordable.
Of course, my experience with Brazilian health care is concentrated to Serra Grande. In big cities like Rio De Janeiro, there are longer wait times. Additionally, there is limited access to specialized care inside the town are individuals are required to travel to the nearest hospital to access care. Furthermore, there is a socio-economic disparity in access to good healthcare provided between the public and private hospitals. Those living in remote areas of Brazil, including many Indigenous communities, face additional difficulties in access efficient medical care as well as possible language barriers. This is why some individuals will turn to alternatives, non-Western forms of medicine.
Although Western medicine is available and accessible even in such a small town like Serra Grande, alternative and naturopathic medicine that relies on herbal and natural-based remedies and is also extremely common and is sometimes used in tandem with Western-medicine. For example, when I had a bout of food poisoning, I was offered tea made from Boldo-brasileiro, also called Garden Billberry. The tea was made with the leaf that is said to have healing and medicinal properties for the gut. In another case, one of my co-workers was suffering from a bad flu and was offered a tea that was made from Erva de Jabuti, or Tortious herb. Erva de Jabuti is used to refer to a variety of plants that are used to digestive and mental health.
Like the examples above, there is a lot of information passed along by Indigenous peoples about the healing properties of plants offered by the forest and this, I’ve seen, is a very common practice even among non-Indigenous people. Another example is the fruit of the Jatobá tree which is used by Indigenous peoples to bring about mental clarity and organization. The fruit is also high in iron and is shown to assist those with iron deficiency.
Through my form for the rainforest conservation organization Floresta Viva, and with my discussions and conversations with residents of Serra Grande I’ve been introduced to some the various forms of medicine commonly used in Brazil and I am excited to learn more in my time left here in Serra Grande.