Today I interviewed Marta de Oliveira who is the psychologist of the program for attention to the health of women, children and adolescents, PAISMCA. There are five programs at the health secretaria to address the issues of women, children, teenagers but no programs to address the health issues of Afro-Brazilian women. In the year 2000 the problem came to the forefront but it took 3 years to convince the health secretariat. When Marta de Oliveira tried to tell the Health Secretariat about the specific health issues faced by Black women, the response was that these issues did not exist because there was no documentation. It turns out that the maternal mortality rate is 5 times higher for Black women than it is for white women. She has made several demands for quality treatment from the professionals but her demands have not been acted upon.
Black women have less access to prenatal health care and the quality of the health care they receive is lower than that received by Black women. A national health program to treat sickle cell disease was started in 2000. Although 45% of Rio de Janeiro is Black, no attention was ever given to the disease. However the problem with this program is that there are other diseases which specifically affect the Afro-Brazilian population. When Afro-Brazilian women are targeted, they were made the focus of mass sterilization campaigns. A study was done which demostrated that Afro-Brazilian women in the northeast were sterilized in order to lower the Black population which was believed to be the cause of social problems. Legally, sterilization was not allowed and was even considered something equivalent to a tort. A law passed in 1996 emphasized that women needed to be educated before making the choice to undergo sterilization. Marta thinks this made things better.
I also had the opportunity to speak to Lucia Xavier of Criola. According to Xavier the denial that racism exists in Brazil has been a major obstacle in serving the health needs of Afro-Brazilian women. There needs to be a health care plan tailored to the needs of Afro-Brazilians. However, that goes against the myth of racial democracy. Opponents of health care programs for Blacks claim that Blacks discriminate too and that implementing such programs will only promote racism. Opponents also claim that Blacks are seeking special attention since Indigenous people and poor whites also experience hardships. Yet, Lucia points out that the concern for poor whites and indigenous people is not genuine because nothing is done for them either.
Black women have less access to prenatal health care and the quality of the health care they receive is lower than that received by Black women. A national health program to treat sickle cell disease was started in 2000. Although 45% of Rio de Janeiro is Black, no attention was ever given to the disease. However the problem with this program is that there are other diseases which specifically affect the Afro-Brazilian population. When Afro-Brazilian women are targeted, they were made the focus of mass sterilization campaigns. A study was done which demostrated that Afro-Brazilian women in the northeast were sterilized in order to lower the Black population which was believed to be the cause of social problems. Legally, sterilization was not allowed and was even considered something equivalent to a tort. A law passed in 1996 emphasized that women needed to be educated before making the choice to undergo sterilization. Marta thinks this made things better.
I also had the opportunity to speak to Lucia Xavier of Criola. According to Xavier the denial that racism exists in Brazil has been a major obstacle in serving the health needs of Afro-Brazilian women. There needs to be a health care plan tailored to the needs of Afro-Brazilians. However, that goes against the myth of racial democracy. Opponents of health care programs for Blacks claim that Blacks discriminate too and that implementing such programs will only promote racism. Opponents also claim that Blacks are seeking special attention since Indigenous people and poor whites also experience hardships. Yet, Lucia points out that the concern for poor whites and indigenous people is not genuine because nothing is done for them either.
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