Project focuses on vulnerable women

The Girl-girl, Woman Project is an initiative of the Higher Institute of Health Sciences Carlos Chagas and is funded by the Ministry of Health and supported by the Municipal Health and Social Assistance Secretariats of Rio de Janeiro.

The Girl Girl, Woman was structured to fill the identified gaps in the integral protection of social assistance and health of the vulnerable female population in Rio de Janeiro. It is estimated that, monthly, 2000 people receive medical (clinical and psychological), social and legal assistance. In addition, the project has workshops and lectures focused on qualification for income generation.

The Girl-girl, woman project was structured around three aspects: medical and social care, studies and research. Comprehensive protection includes integrated health care, with interventional and preventive actions, based on the articulation of numerous public policies. The experience of the project will be used for the development of research linked to the Educational Programs of the Carlos Chagas Graduate Institute and as a social methodology for other regions of Brazil.

With the aim of promoting comprehensive care for women over 12 years of age who are in any situation of vulnerability, the project promotes interventional and preventive actions, based on articulation with public spheres, functioning as a complementary service in the health system. One of the main functions of the project team is to welcome, listen and take care of each need of the women assisted.

“Menina-Moça, Mulher’ is unique and was designed to support street women, sex workers, drug users, victims of sexual abuse and all women who have difficulty accessing the health system and need of specialized care. We are also offering legal support and training courses to generate work and income. The idea is for these women to look back at themselves and understand that they are important.”, says Dr. Ricardo Cavalcanti Ribeiro, president of the Carlos Chagas Institute and one of the creators of the project.

The headquarters of the “Girl-girl, woman” project has rooms for medical care; auditorium for group psychological care and for educational workshops and lectures.

The Oxford unit in Brazil will have two offices in Rio de Janeiro. The first, at the Carlos Chagas Institute, which will be the base for the team, research and courses. Another headquarters, for projects carried out in partnership with the Ministry of Health, will be announced this Monday and will be at the Cultural Center of the Ministry of Health, in Praça Marechal Âncora.

At Carlos Chagas, research will be carried out completely independently of the government, with funding from other financial institutions, such as one that was already started two weeks ago, on the third dose of the vaccine against Covid with the Clover vaccine.

Two courses will also be offered at the institute, starting in the first half of 2022, mixing Brazilian and foreign professors. These courses, still under construction, will be adapted to the reality and needs of Brazilian professionals, as well as the internship part that should take into account professional experience in institutions in Oxford, Brazil and Siena. The first course will be a partnership with the course given in Oxford, on Infectious Diseases, the second, in partnership with the University of Siena, Italy, is on Vaccinology and Clinical Development.

Sir Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, arrives in Brazil this Monday to settle the details of the unit and visit the research centers. In an interview with GLOBO, he stated that the country offers “enormous potential for us to work together with the United Kingdom and integrate projects to improve human health”. One of the reasons for choosing the unit here, the first in Latin America, was the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine development partnership.

— Brazilians have made an immense contribution to protecting humanity against the coronavirus with the assistance and development of immunization. The Oxford vaccine would not exist if it weren’t for the Brazilian researchers and volunteers who took part in the tests – he said.

The British professor is grateful for the support he has been receiving from the Brazilian government, but reinforces the independence of the unit:

— We are grateful for the partnership and support in maintaining the independence and decisions of the research. This is important in the way we work. Academic institutions need to be independent of the political environment, but able to work together with relevant ministries because good policy depends on good science. I hope this is one of the legacies of the pandemic – he said.

Brazilian researcher and professor Sue Ann Clemens, responsible for bringing the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine studies to Brazil, and director of the first master’s degree in vaccinology in the world, at the University of Siena, will also be the director of the unit.
According to Clemens, the unit’s team will consist of two teams: one for research coordination, which already has a doctor and operational staff, and another for the academic educational part of courses. In addition to them, professionals will be hired by projects.

For Clemens, one of the unit’s intentions is to train Brazilian scientists to develop global plans, from antigen identification to international registration, capable of being presented to different funding institutions.

— Today, Brazil is a recruiter and does it with excellence. Big industries bring the protocol ready, the investigator sits down, recruits, but doesn’t know what happened before or after. The global development plan is not made here and does not involve Brazilians. Researchers need to start bearing in mind the end of the project, thinking about a product for the world, with all stages validated internationally and developed in Brazil, which I don’t see here. This global development plan, based entirely on Brazilians and developed in the country, will be able to attract private investment or obtain funds for the execution of phase zero to registration – he explains.

Source: https://oglobo.globo.com/saude/unidade-de-oxford-no-brasil-tera-duas-sedes-no-centro-do-rio-25306972