UFMA-GEMINI Partnership: Ten Years of Sharing Knowledge
Written by Marcos Campos, Érika Thomaz. Review: Letícia Murase. In mid-2015, one of GEMINI’s most enduring collaborations began: a partnership with the Federal University of Maranhão (UFMA, in Portuguese abbreviation). Maranhão, in Brazil’s Northeast, is home to unique natural landscapes and spans an area roughly the size of Italy. Yet the state faces some of the country’s lowest social and health indicators. In this tropical region, where ecosystems range from the Amazon rainforest to Brazil’s semi-arid zones, health needs are diverse. A high burden of infectious and neglected tropical diseases coexists with elevated mortality from noncommunicable conditions and violence, alongside health challenges specific to traditional communities (Indigenous, riverine, and quilombola populations).Against this backdrop, GEMINI’s co-director, Dr. João Vissoci, began collaborating with UFMA professor Dr. Erika Thomaz. Together with Dr. Thiago…