Implementation period:

Presentation and description:

The SUS in the Amazon project aims to strengthen and support Primary Health Care in riverine communities in the Brazilian state of Amazonas through the structuring of a telehealth system integrated with the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS), thereby expanding healthcare services in these regions.

To this end, appropriate physical facilities will be made available, including a waiting room, lodging, screening room, consultation rooms for both in-person and telehealth appointments and a dental office. The initiative plans to implement telehealth hubs at strategic points in the Amazon rainforest, which will offer face-to-face consultations, teleconsultations, and dental care, as well as technical advice for professionals from municipal health departments.

The project also provides training for health teams, with technical advisory in digital health, aiming to improve access and the quality of care offered to the communities served.

The facilities will be equipped to ensure the continuity and effectiveness of care in the regions served, also promoting telehealth training for professionals of SUS and health education initiatives aimed at the local population.

Beneficiary description:

The beneficiaries of the project, in both cycles, include the residents of the riverside communities and the professionals of the Municipal Health Departments of the municipalities of Carauari, Eirunepé, Itapiranga, Novo Aripuanã and Uarini in the state of Amazonas.

Municipalities served:

To access the interactive map with all the municipalities supported by the Together for Health program, click here.

The project is supported by Together for Health, a BNDES initiative, in partnership with private donors, with the goal of gathering resources to expand access to public healthcare for the population in the North and Northeast regions of Brazil.

Cycle 1

Presentation and description:

This cycle of the project will deliver five health support centers and one lodging facility to the Municipal Health Secretariats of the State of Amazonas, to be used for face-to-face and telemediated medical consultations, in addition to dental care for the traditional riverside communities. With this, the project cycle aims to train 50 SUS professionals in relation to telehealth, in addition to carrying out at least 240 teleconsultations and 180 dental consultations by the end of the project.

The distribution of support centers and lodging facilities:

– Carauari: two health support centers, in different locations in the municipality;

– Itapiranga: a health support center;

– Novo Aripuanã: two health support centers, in different locations in the municipality;

– Uarini: a support center for the Municipal Health Department’s health team.

Municipalities served:

Amazonas: Carauari, Itapiranga, Novo Aripuanã and Uarini.

Cycle 2

Presentation and description:

This cycle of the project seeks to strengthen Primary Health Care through the implementation of health support infrastructure and the structuring of digital health actions integrated into SUS. To this end, adequate infrastructure will be made available for face-to-face and telemedicine consultations and dental care, with facilities installed in the Ubim community, also serving the communities of Santo Amaro, Fortaleza and Maravilha, located in the municipality of Eirunepé/AM, within the Gregório River Extractive Reserve.

It will also offer technical consultancy in digital health, covering telehealth, teleguidance, tele-education and teleconsulting, to train professionals from the Municipal Health Departments. Additionally, the project will promote health education activities through webinars and teleconsultations and will develop communication strategies to increase the transparency of the initiatives of the SUS in the Amazon Project and encourage its replicability.

Municipalities served:

Amazonas: Eirunepé.

Executor

The Fundação Amazônia Sustentável (freely translated to Sustainable Amazon Foundation) is a non-profit civil entity with administrative, economic and financial autonomy. Since 2009, FAS has supported healthcare by providing emergency transport through ambulance boats (ambulanchas). Starting in 2012, the organization began to work on implementing the Programa Primeira Infância Ribeirinha (Riverside Early Childhood Program), and in 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization instituted its own Health Program. Through this program, FAS strengthens the SUS in the Amazon, supporting Primary Health Care in 22 municipalities with telemediated care and training for community health agents, endemic disease agents, doctors, nurses, technicians, and midwives. The organization also provides technical advice (remote guidance) to help municipalities develop their telehealth systems, expanding the reach of SUS services.

General supporter
The National Bank of Economic and Social Development (BNDES) is a federal public company linked to the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services. It is the Federal Government’s main instrument for long-term financing and investment in all segments of the Brazilian economy, with the aim of improving the lives of generations, promoting economic, social and environmental development. It operates throughout the country, from its office in Rio de Janeiro (RJ), where its activities are concentrated, with official headquarters in Brasília (DF) and regional offices in São Paulo (SP) and Recife (PE).

Cycle 1 supporter

Umane is an independent, non-partisan and non-profit civil society organization that promotes initiatives in the field of public health with the aim of contributing to a more resolute Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) and improving the quality of life of people living in Brazil. Umane operates through three programs: Comprehensive Care for Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (DCNT), with initiatives to control risk factors, screening, expanding access to health and monitoring risk factors in Primary Health Care; Strengthening of Primary Health Care (APS) as the coordinator of care in SUS, through support for initiatives aimed at improving operations, team productivity, integration of services and the incorporation of new technologies into the health system; and the Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health program, funding programs that track and monitor unfavorable outcomes during pregnancy and health conditions of children and adolescents in the context of Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases and risk factors.

Cycle 2 supporter

The Vale Fund is a development organization created to generate positive social and environmental impact. Our mission is to drive solutions that strengthen a more sustainable, just and inclusive economy through catalytic capital and support for businesses and innovative initiatives. For 15 years, they have helped to build a new economic reality by investing in business development, knowledge generation, and financial arrangements aimed at the conservation and recovery of biomes, with special attention to the Amazon.

Manager:

IDIS – Institute for the Development of Social Investment, is a civil society organization founded in 1999 and pioneer in technical support to social investors in Brazil. With the mission to inspire, support and promote strategic philanthropy and its impact, they serve individuals, families, companies, corporate and family run institutes and foundations, as well as with civil society organizations, in actions that transform realities and contribute for the reduction of social inequality in the country. Their actions are based on the tripod of generating knowledge, offering advisory and developing social impact projects that contribute to the strengthening of the ecosystem of strategic philanthropy and of giving culture.

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