The state government of Acre in northern Brazil has urged Brazilian federal authorities to tighten up on the health inspection of immigrants on the state’s national borders.
The call was issued following the first case of Ebola reported in Senegal and the increasing number of citizens from this country crossing the Brazil-Peru frontier over the last weeks.
The government of Acre wants the Health Ministry to send over experts capable of offering support to health agents on the national borders. The request was submitted on Friday (August 29) to Ideli Salvatti, the minister of the Secretariat for Human Rights of the Presidency of the Republic.
On the same day, in Senegal, the first case of the disease was reported. The victim was a 21-year-old university student, who was hospitalized in Dakar, the country’s capital city.
Officials from the federal government are expected to meet this week in a bid to analyze the need for measures to ensure the security of both the population and health agents working on the frontier.
Haitians
In Acre’s state capital Rio Branco, Minister Salvatti paid a visit to a shelter where at least 20 Senegalese citizens were found among over 100 immigrants, most of whom from Haiti and African countries, awaiting to have an official permit to stay in Brazil and work.
Early in August, the Secretariat for Social Work stated that the chances of someone infected with the Ebola virus entering the country are not very high given the conditions to which immigrants are subject when crossing the Brazilian frontier by land in search of a work opportunity.
Acre is part of Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest region. In its southwest area, Brazil shares national borders with Bolivia and Peru. After the earthquake in 2010, thousands of Haitians used this route to gain entry to Brazil. The strategy has also been adopted by African immigrants interested in coming to the country.
HPV Vaccine
Girls aging from 11 to 13 years old who have received the first shot of the vaccine against the human papillomavirus (HPV) have now received the second dose. The vaccination was carried out at public and private schools, along with healthcare stations.
According to the Health Ministry, over 4.3 million girls in this age group received the first shot in March this year. The second one is crucial to ensuring protection against the disease. The third dose is expected to be applied five years after the first.
The vaccine offers protection against four strains of HPV: 6, 11, 16 and 18. Strain 16 and 18 are responsible for 70 percent of the cases of cervical cancer, while strain 6 and 11 account for 90% of anogenital warts
In 2015, the vaccine will be offered to girls from nine to 11, and, in 2016, to nine-year-old girls.
As for cervical cancer, the National Cancer Institute estimates the incidence of 15 thousand new cases in the country this year.
