Brazil: Public Health, Race, and Human Rights

"My experience at SIT helped me understand various aspects of health in a different setting. SIT support, especially through the Independent Study Project, enabled me to begin an exploration of Afro-Brazilian adolescents' self-images. After my Fulbright, I aspire to establish a nonprofit organization to serve low-income African-American preteens."

Program alum, Kyasha Moore, Spelman College, Fulbright Recipient

Brazil Public Health, Race, and Human Rights Academic Director Damiana de Miranda was awarded the Prêmio Mulher Guerreira Maria Felipa along with other black women in Brazil in recognition of her activities to improve the social inclusion of Afro Brazilians. The prize was created by the City Council of Salvador to celebrate Black Women’s Day. Congratulations, Damiana, on this great honor and for all the public health and community support you extend to others.

Browse this program's Independent Study Projects/Undergraduate Research

Investigate healthcare realities, policy, and delivery systems among disadvantaged groups in the Brazilian state of Bahia.

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This program allows students to observe through firsthand experience how health care policies in Brazil are put into practice. Students are deeply immersed in Nordeste, Brazil's northeast region and home to some of the poorest areas in the southern hemisphere. Through lectures, seminars, and site visits, students discover the complexities of Brazil's health care system as well as the country's extraordinarily diverse population.

Particular attention is spent studying traditional Afro Brazilian healing practices, especially those rooted in the Candomblé spiritual belief system, on which many rural and urban communities still rely.

Immersion in Bahia
The program is based in Salvador, the capital of Bahia and largest city in the Brazilian northeast. Of Salvador's 2.8 million residents, approximately 80 percent are of African descent. Salvador is an ideal base from which to explore issues of public health, community welfare, and social justice.

Students also have educational excursions to rural communities outside Salvador where they engage in healthcare projects beneficial to local community members. Homestays with Brazilian families from very different socioeconomic backgrounds reveal the vast differences in Brazilian daily life.

Engage with academics, professionals, and community leaders
Students learn from physicians and nurses, government health officials, political activists, representatives of international NGOs and multilateral agencies such as the United Nations, urban and rural residents, herbalists, and Candomblé healers in the Brazilian northeast.

Focus on issues of access and inclusion
Brazil is the most populous Latin American country and home to the world's largest African Diaspora community. While the country's public health policies have achieved success on several issues, including in AIDS prevention, the healthcare needs of its most impoverished people currently are not being met. As a result, Brazil's government has sought innovative approaches to reach its underprivileged citizens. Many Brazilian communities in the periphery also have developed alternative healthcare methods that often draw upon spiritual practices and natural remedies.

SIT Brazil alum wins Fulbright
Program alumna Meghan Mooney, Santa Clara University, has been awarded a Fulbright to return to Salvador to continue research she started while studying abroad in 2008 with SIT. Meghan’s research is on the social inclusion of waste peckers (recyclable material collectors). She’ll work with Dr. John Damasio of PANGEA and attend classes at UFBA. Congrats, Meghan!

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Credits: 16

Duration: 15 weeks

Program Base: Brazil, Salvador

Language Study: Portuguese

Prerequisites: None, although a background in Portuguese, Spanish, or another Romance language is highly recommended. Read more...