Project Brazil Update
Project Brazi co-leads, Maria Bührnheim and Daniella Cal, have been working tirelessly to address the socio-economic and health disparities that have been progressing in Brazil throughout this pandemic. While many Americans are unaware of what is happening in the country, Brazil is currently experiencing one of its worst humanitarian crises in Brazilian history:
“To be in Brazil right now feels like being trapped in the middle of a chaotic battlefield, a 14-month-long siege, without anyone in charge on your side of the trenches,” states Miguel Nicolelis in the Scientific American. “Totally surrounded by a lethal enemy that keeps getting closer to you and your family. This biological foe keeps morphing in a way that seems well adapted to infect everyone within reach, showing mercy neither for pregnant women nor for their newborn babies.”
More than 390,000 Brazilian lives have been lost throughout this pandemic, and the number continues to rise starkly with each day. Hospitals are overwhelmed, even in the wealthiest areas of Brazil; medical supplies are running dangerously low; and Brazil is facing a new variant of the virus known as P.1, which is 2.5 times more transmissible. These issues threaten to engulf the remaining healthy population in Brazil.
Despite the alarming crisis, much of the world’s population is unaware of what is happening in Brazil. Project Brazil aims to address this phenomenon by ensuring that the public is well informed on the country’s dire situation and has access to reliable and digestible information concerning the matter.
“Brazilian datasets can be very hard to access and understand, even for those who are used to it,” confirms co-lead Maria Bührnheim. “This is one of the reasons why we want to work on writing articles about the topics previously mentioned. People from other countries rarely have insightful information on our current situation, and we want to change this scenario.”
One of the initiatives that Project Brazil aims to work on is researching and publishing articles about the situation in Brazil through their own Medium page. The team hopes to create accessible and insightful information with their reports to help inform the public about the Brazilian crisis.
Writer Tint Tha Ra Wun recently published an article on the rising death rate in Brazil, a phenomenon heavily present amongst vulnerable newborns. Check it out below!
Outside of their Medium page, the team also hopes to be published in more academic journals, signaling their high-quality research.
Notably, the team had a breakthrough after being published in the highly acclaimed Brazilian Medical Students Journal. Check out their experience report below — located on page 100 — which was a huge accomplishment for the team.
Project Brazil hopes to continue seeing its research recognized by academic journals as its initiatives expand this year!
Recruitment Needs
Project Brazil is currently looking for new members interested in data analysis and willing to contribute time to this project’s endeavors.
If you are currently not a member of the Coronavirus Visualization Team but are interested in partaking in any future research initiatives of this project, please fill out this form below to apply to join the community. If the CVT has any recruitment needs in the future, your application may be considered.
The CVT is always on the lookout for partnerships and project collaborations with organizations that seek data we can use. We welcome organizations that are willing to provide mentorship and resources to help us fulfill our mission. If you would be interested in collaborating and/or mentoring Project Brazil with any of their initiatives, please email us at coronavirusvisualizationteam@gmail.com.
Thank you for reading this project update!
