The Arts of Healthcare in
Brazil: Alternative Approaches
to Prevention and Education
Courtney Crumpler
Health Grand Challenges Initiative
The Future of Global AIDS Treatment & The Social Determinants of Health
Coordinated by Professor João Biehl
Brazilian Interdisciplinary
AIDS Association (ABIA)
•Non-Governmental
Organization based in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil
•Coordinates projects that
confront HIV/AIDS by
mobilizing resources and the
public to fight for treatment
and defend the rights of AIDS
patients
•Since 1987 have worked in
public policy, education,
prevention campaigns and the
provision of access to AIDS
information
Companhia da Saúde: One of ABIA’s only field projects is this group of
adolescent performers who educate other youth about STI prevention and
stigma reduction using a fun and creative play
What I Did:
•Assessed the scope, effectiveness and importance of
the Companhia da Saúde
•Observed practices, conducted interviews, and
investigated in ABIA’s archives
Principal question: What resources outside of the hospital or
a professional public health intervention can be used to reduce
the need for ARVs and prevent high-risk behaviors that spread
AIDS and other STIs?
Current Project
•“Prevention is the
Solution” - play that
includes messages
of the risk of STIs
and the
importance of
using protection
•Song, dance,
costumes and
comedy along with
factual information
•Alternate approach to educating young people about safer sex
•Performed at schools, special events, youth service delivery
organizations, in the streets
•Able to communicate ABIA’s message to many different
people who have been left out by traditional means
•Example of how social determinants such as age or literacy
shape people’s access to health
Fostering Health Citizenship
•Company helps participants themselves navigate adolescence by
fostering a sense of identity and common purpose.
•Space to “entender e ser entendido”
•In company participants are respected as adolescents capable of
contributing positively to society
•Engagement
with issues of
sexual health
serves as an
entry road into
citizenship, a
process of
discovery that
each individual
is a valued
member of
society whose
voice should
heard
Emotional, Physical and Financial Security
•Participants receive stipend from ABIA
•Money did not positively or negatively influence the outcome of work, but
rather made it possible for students to continue with the project
•Health considerations for those delivering services or care
Conclusion
•Observed the importance of
developing social responses
to health issues
•Company is a creative
model for continuing to
spread the prevention
message, engaging the
public in a unique way to
provide vital information for
maintaining sexual health
and preventing HIV/AIDS
•ABIA helps to form “healthy”
adolescents by fostering their
sense of identity and by
working not only to prevent
AIDS but also the social
factors that negatively affect
youth
•The company highlights the
importance of programs that
provide positive outcomes
both for patients and for
those delivering services or
care