Consul General of Canada visits Fiocruz

The Consul General of Canada in Brazil, Evelyne Coulumbe, visited the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) last Tuesday (21st January), where she met representatives of the institution and President Nísia Trindade de Lima. Vice-Consul Marie-Hèlène Béland, a specialist in the theme of Science, Technology and Innovation, also participated in the visit, which aimed to strengthen health cooperation between the two countries.

"Besides of having the pleasure of meeting the first female president of Fiocruz, Brazil and Canada have an active collaboration in Science and Technology, and we could certainly strengthen the ties between Fiocruz and Canadian organizations," said the Consul, who at the time presented the Foundation with a golden maple leaf - symbol of Canada.

The Consul offered a maple leaf - Canada symbol -  as a gift to the Foundation. (Photo: Pedro Paulo Gonçalves, INCQS/Fiocruz)
 

Among the topics discussed were indigenous health, primary care, antimicrobial resistance and healthy cities. These are priority issues for Fiocruz (Brazil) and Canada, in which the exchange of experiences can benefit both countries.

Cooperation should be carried out mainly through the International Development Research Center (IDRC), with which the Foundation already has a partnership, and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR), Canada's federal funding agency for health research composed of 13 institutes.

The agenda of populations and development was also considered paramount. Issue such as encouraging women in science and the health of the black population were also discussed. This agenda had already been reinforced in Fiocruz by the visit of the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (Unfpa) in October 2018 and by the commitment of the Foundation to the UN 2030 Agenda.

"We have a fantastic agenda ahead of us, in which our countries can contribute to issues such as the right to health and the right to the city," said Nísia at the end of the meeting.

In addition to the president, Fiocruz was represented by the Vice President of Research and Biological Collections, Rodrigo Correa de Oliveira, Vice President of Production and Innovation in Health, Marco Krieger, institutional relations adviser, Valber Frutuoso, and representatives of the Fiocruz Global Health Center (Cris / Fiocruz), Paulo Buss, José Roberto Ferreira, and Luiz Eduardo Fonseca.