Perspectives on sexual and reproductive health among women in an ancient mining area in Brazil Perspectiva de la salud sexual y reproductiva en mujeres de una antigua zona minera de Brasil

• Main Authors: Angélica Espinosa Miranda, Paulo Roberto Merçon-de-Vargas, Carlos E. P. Corbett, Julieta França Corbett, Reynaldo Dietze
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Spanish; Portuguese
• Published: Pan American Health Organization 2009
• Subjects: Salud de la mujer; minería; enfermedades de los genitales femeninos; comunidades vulnerables; accesibilidad a los servicios de salud; Brasil; Women's health; mining; genital diseases; women; vulnerable groups; health services accessibility; Brazil; Medicine; R; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doaj.org/article/4a255120d2c64feca1d34c4cceb485f4

The purpose of this study was to describe the reproductive profile and frequency of genital in fections among women living in the Serra Pelada, a former mining village in the Pará state, Brazil. A descriptive study of women living in the mining area of Serra Pelada was performed in 2004 through interviews that gathered demographics and clinical data, and assessed risk be haviors of 209 randomly-selected women. Blood samples were collected for rapid assay for HIV; specimens were taken for Pap smears and Gram stains. Standard descriptive statistical analy ses were performed and prevalence was calculated to reflect the relative frequency of each dis ease. Of the 209 participants, the median age was 38 years, with almost 70% having less than four years of education and 77% having no income or under 1.9 times the minimum wage of Brazil. About 30% did not have access to health care services during the preceding year. Risk behaviors included: alcohol abuse, 24.4%; illicit drug abuse, 4.3%; being a sex worker, 15.8%; and domestic violence, 17.7%. Abnormal Pap smear was found in 8.6%. Prevalence rates of in fection were: HIV, 1.9%; trichomoniasis, 2.9%; bacterial vaginosis, 18.7%; candidiasis, 5.7%; Chlamydial-related cytological changes, 3.3%; and HPV-related cytological changes, 3.8%. Women living in this mining area in Brazil are economically and socially vulnerable to health problems. It is important to point out the importance of concomitant broader strategies that include reducing poverty and empowering women to make improvements regarding their health. El propósito de este estudio fue describir el perfil reproductivo y la frecuencia de infecciones genitales en mujeres que viven en la población minera Serra Pelada en el Estado de Pará, Brasil. Se realizó un estudio descriptivo de las mujeres que vivían en la zona minera de Serra Pelada en 2004 mediante entrevistas en las que se recabaron datos demográficos y clínicos y se examinaron las conductas de riesgo de 209 mujeres seleccionadas aleatoriamente. Se tomaron ...