By Rodrigo Carmino
When it comes to health, we’re directly discussing life – human lives or animal lives, both are extremely important. The Roque Community has approximately 700 people: men, women, elderly, youngsters and children who are hostages of a single health center and an agent who works there, all at the mercy of the disregard of the Department of Health of the Carauari Municipality, which has treated these residents’ lives in a banal way.
With the decrease in water levels, mosquitoes that transmit malaria begin to appear, drastically increasing the number of sick people in the municipality. The health center does not have medicine for the treatment of malaria, nor staff trained to carry out the examination within the community, thus making the treatment more difficult as the disease worsens.
Some residents were asked about health within the community and many reported their indignation towards government officials regarding their negligence towards the citizens’ lives. Community leaders have already requested the health department to provide agents who work at the Amazonas Health Surveillance Foundation (FVS) with medicines; however, so far, there is still no response.
Others emphasized that health is not merely physical or mental, but also the garbage that is thrown on the streets, streams, rivers and even inside our homes. It’s up to each of us to know how to manage our own waste and avoid still water. And many also mentioned COVID-19 and emphasized the importance of keeping hands always sanitized and always wearing masks out of respect and consideration for your own life and others’ lives. They also mentioned that COVID-19 has been destroying families, raising questions and making us understand the importance of the touch of our loved ones.
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Rodrigo de Souza Carmino is 24 years old and lives in the Roque Community, in the municipality of Carauari (AM). He is a pedagogy student and dreams of a fairer and more egalitarian world.