Sunday, April 09, 2006
For a long time, there has been controversy about the relative values of research and development (R&D) on new technologies for health and of the identification and implementation of best policies for national healthsystems. Those who support expanded support for R&D argue that only through new and improved technologies will it be possible to effectively address some of the greatest health problems facing poor people worldwide. Investments in research today will pay off by helping people more effectively than with current technologies and will help forever. New real scientific advances last for a very long time. Only with safe and effective vaccines will it be possible to control AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. Those who support focus on policy argue that very significant progress could be made in controlling disease today with existing technologies and known policies. Money spent on research that may not pay off for decades could be allocated to known interventions that would save lives today. For example, malaria and other tropical diseases might be largely controlled in Brazil with the wide-scale availability of bed nets and advanced therapies.
Inaugurated on May 25, 1900 under the name of Federal Serotherapy Institute, Fiocruz* was given the mission of fighting the great problems of public health in Brazil. Therefore, Fiocruz became a think tank concerned with Brazilian reality and experimental medicine.
Fiocruz is located on a 800,000-square meter campus at Manguinhos, a suburban area in the North Side of Rio de Janeiro. Around three historical buildings of the old Federal Serotherapy Institute – the Moorish Pavilion, the Watch Pavilion and the Mews -, there are ten of Fiocruz’s thirteen technical-scientific units and all the technical and administrative support units. Another five units are located at Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Recife e Manaus.
Today the institution is noted for its excellence in a wide range of health activities, including research development, hospital and ambulatory care services; production of vaccines, drugs, reactants, and diagnostic kits; human resources teaching and training; information and communication regarding health, science and technology; quality control of products and services, and the implementation of social programs. It has over 7,500 employees and health professionals with different engagements, a workforce proud of being at the service of life.
FIOCRUZ
Telephone: (+5521) 25984242
Site: www.fiocruz.br
* The Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ) is a public institution linked to Ministry of Health and one of the main technical and scientific supports to the Unique Health System - SUS - activities. The FIOCRUZ institutional mission characteristics in education, research, production and services of information allows a good performance in the field health information.
Inaugurated on May 25, 1900 under the name of Federal Serotherapy Institute, Fiocruz* was given the mission of fighting the great problems of public health in Brazil. Therefore, Fiocruz became a think tank concerned with Brazilian reality and experimental medicine.
Fiocruz is located on a 800,000-square meter campus at Manguinhos, a suburban area in the North Side of Rio de Janeiro. Around three historical buildings of the old Federal Serotherapy Institute – the Moorish Pavilion, the Watch Pavilion and the Mews -, there are ten of Fiocruz’s thirteen technical-scientific units and all the technical and administrative support units. Another five units are located at Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Recife e Manaus.
Today the institution is noted for its excellence in a wide range of health activities, including research development, hospital and ambulatory care services; production of vaccines, drugs, reactants, and diagnostic kits; human resources teaching and training; information and communication regarding health, science and technology; quality control of products and services, and the implementation of social programs. It has over 7,500 employees and health professionals with different engagements, a workforce proud of being at the service of life.
FIOCRUZ
Telephone: (+5521) 25984242
Site: www.fiocruz.br
* The Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ) is a public institution linked to Ministry of Health and one of the main technical and scientific supports to the Unique Health System - SUS - activities. The FIOCRUZ institutional mission characteristics in education, research, production and services of information allows a good performance in the field health information.
