Brasília - The 1st National Seminar on the Health of the Black Population, which gets underway today in Brasília, "represents an excellent advance in terms of racial equality," declared the chief of staff of the Secretariat for the Promotion of Social Equality, Maria Inés Barbosa. The event, in her view, is historic and will gather municipal and state administrators of the Federal Health System from all over Brazil, researchers, and representatives of civil society organizations.

The seminar, Barbosa said, represents an advance, "because it recognizes that we live in a racist country." She argued that the creation of the Secretariat itself attests to this. "The State admits that we live in a racist country. And racism also has negative consequences for the health of the population."

Barbosa informed that blacks currently make up 50% of the Brazilian population and that early deaths constitute a conspicuous characteristic of the health of the black population. "We have a higher child mortality rate, a greater risk of maternal death, and [a higher incidence of] premature black male deaths, due to violence, for example," she affirmed.

According to her, the seminar is part of a process that began at the 12th National Health Conference, held late last year. The Conference was also a landmark, "because the black population, the black movement, acted cohesively within the conference and succeeded in raising some issues concerning the health of the black population. The formulation of the National Health Plan, in which the government recognizes that there exists a difference when it comes to the health of the black population, was another stage in this process," she pointed out.

Agência Brasil
Translator: David Silberstein
08/18/2004