2020-2021 Research project

Impact assessment of the oil spill on the coast of Bahia: health and environmental protection actions.

Funded by: Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), Brazil. Code: ENTREMARES20191391534P.

To investigate the impact of the oil spill on the health of affected communities in Bahia, participatory community-based research, with qualitative and epidemiological components, will guide the process of producing health technologies to monitor and care for the exposed population. This study responds directly to the urgent research and social needs, in reference to the oil spill, to reduce exposures and minimize the impact on health: Developing baseline epidemiological studies with exposed communities, will allow to identify the association between exposure and effects on health and future cohort studies to detect chronic effects of exposure to chemical contaminants on human health; to assess the performance of health services in the most affected locations and develop similar disaster prevention technologies; to Identify the relationship between the type and frequency of oil exposures and the short-term health impact on exposed populations; to use the results of the research to develop, in collaboration with community partners, risk communication tools and intervention in health exposure.

Research team: Rita Rego (Chief Researcher – Universidade Federal da Bahia), Cristina Larrea Killinger.