The general director of the Santos Dumont Institute (ISD), Reginaldo Freitas Jr., alongside the administrative director, Jovan Gadioli dos Santos; the manager of the Anita Garibaldi Center for Health Education and Research (Anita), Lilian Lira Lisboa; the general manager of the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience (IIN-ELS), Edgard Morya; and the coordinator of the Academic Secretariat, Marcelo Carvalho, presented the execution report of the management contract for the first half of this year to the Management Contract Monitoring and Evaluation Committee, with representatives of the Ministries of Economy, Education and Health. The figures were detailed to the ministerial representatives in a virtual hearing held on Monday (13/09).

Indicators related to the services provided at the Anita Garibaldi Center for Health Education and Research (Anita) throughout the pandemic, the growth of the ISD's presence on social media and in local and national media, as well as the results obtained by professors, researchers and master's students at the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience (IIN-ELS) were detailed to the audience participants. Even in the midst of the pandemic, with the process of reopening social and economic activities underway, Anita managed to provide more than 25 thousand services, 86,79% higher than that recorded from January to June 2020. Of these, 95,24% of the services were concentrated in patients from the cities of Macaíba, Natal, Parnamirim and São Gonçalo do Amarante. 

The increase in maternal and child deaths in Rio Grande do Norte throughout this year was highlighted at the hearing. COVID-19 contributed to the negative increase in these statistics, according to the director-general of ISD, Reginaldo Freitas Jr. “It is secondary to the various weaknesses of our maternal and child care network. These are multisectoral weaknesses,” he stressed. From January to July 2021, 41 deaths of pregnant and postpartum women were recorded in the state. In all of 2020, the number was 14, according to the State Department of Public Health (Sesap/RN). 

Investments

Among the achievements made during the first half of 2021, Reginaldo Freitas Jr. detailed the investments in works at IIN-ELS, which totaled R$1.16 million. Infrastructure implementation and consolidation projects that covered five main fronts – adaptation of laboratories, exhibition space, new auditorium, urbanization and access to the Institute – were executed. 

“What you do is exciting. Each presentation is always exciting. I would like to congratulate you once again because it has worked. What you are able to do, with the help of the MEC to advance and meet the goals, makes us happy,” commented Sylvia Helena Figueiredo Prata, representative of the Management Secretariat of the Ministry of Economy.  

The positive results achieved by ISD during the first half of 2021 were also recognized by Felipe Von Glehn Silva, representative of the School of Medicine at the University of Brasília (UNB). “It is very gratifying to see a project like this under development in the Northeast. It is a model project for other centers to develop academic and research aspects. ISD is a source of pride. I hope it continues to grow and make the Northeast and Brazil proud,” he emphasized.

In addition to representatives from the Santos Dumont Institute (ISD), the following people participated in the hearing: Fábio César Braga de Abreu Lima, specialist from the São Paulo State University (UNESP) and president of the Monitoring and Evaluation Committee (CAA); Felipe Von Glehn Silva, specialist from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Brasília (UNB); Sylvia Helena Figueiredo Prata, representative of the Management Secretariat of the Ministry of Economy (ME); representing the Ministry of Education: Vinícius Nunes de Aquino, from the Center for Coordination, Supervision and Monitoring of Social Organizations – Núcleo OS; and Luiz Paulo Martins de Lima.