Brazil

Having now surpassed three million COVID-19 cases, Brazil is one of the worst-affected countries worldwide. MSF is focused on providing care to those who are most at risk, including people without reliable housing and those living in remote areas.  

In São Paulo, we have opened an eight-bed intensive care unit at Tide Setubal hospital. We are starting to look at how we can provide support with contact tracing for patients admitted to the intensive care unit, and are also conducting outreach activities and COVID-19 awareness sessions in the surrounding districts.

In Boa Vista, we are running an intensive care unit and a ward for moderate and severe cases of COVID-19 in a field hospital managed by the local health authority. We continue our work in informal shelters for migrants and refugees, providing guidance on physical distancing and distributing hygiene kits.

Our teams have begun COVID-19 operations in two locations in the Amazon. In São Gabriel da Cachoeira, we are running a 10-bed inpatient department, providing care for patients with moderate cases of COVID-19. In Tefé, MSF teams are supporting the town’s main hospital through training in infection prevention and control.

Completed COVID-19 projects in Brazil

Due to the significant reduction of COVID-19 cases in the area, our activities in Manaus have now ended. During our activities, MSF staff worked in the public hospital and managed 12 beds in the intensive care unit, along with 36 beds for moderate and severe cases of COVID-19. We also ran an isolation centre for migrant Venezuelan indigenous people with suspected COVID-19.

Following the Haiti earthquake of January 2010, thousands of Haitians fled the devastation and sought asylum in Brazil. Stranded in the border town Tabatinga, and unable to work or leave until they received authorisation, many were living in extremely poor conditions. In November of 2010, Médecins Sans Frontières began offering psychological support and distributed washing kits.