VZCZCXRO4583
RR RUEHRG
DE RUEHBR #0012/01 0031933
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 031933Z JAN 08 VOL ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0767
INFO RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC
RUEHPH/CDC ATLANTA GA
RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 1406
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 5635
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 7554

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BRASILIA 000012 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/BSC, WHS/EPSC 
DEPT PASS TO USAID HENRIETTA FORE 
PLEASE PASS TO HHS/OGA -W.STEIGER AND R.CORREA-DE-ARUAJO 
PLEASE PASS TO NIH/FIC - K.BIALY 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SOCI EAID KHIV BR
SUBJECT: BRAZIL: AMBASSADOR FINDS OPPORTUNTIES FOR PUBLIC HEALTH 
COOPERATION IN MEETING WITH HEALTH MINISTER 
 
REF:  SAO PAULO 726 
 
BRASILIA 00000012  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY. Ambassador Clifford Sobel met with Brazilian Health 
Minister Jose Gomes Temporao on December 12 to advance the public 
health cooperation agenda.  The Ambassador said the USG would work 
with the Health Ministry, the NGO "Malaria No More," and the State 
of Amazonas to develop a program to fight malaria in the Amazon; the 
Minister looked forward to seeing this proposal.  Further, the 
Minister invited a team of U.S. and Panamanian specialists to come 
to Brazil January 7-8 in order to develop a proposal on how to 
incorporate the benefits of the regional training center located in 
Panama in to the Health Ministry's efforts to help its Mercosul 
neighbors and Portuguese-speaking Africa with training of medical 
personnel.  The Minister offered, and the Ambassador said he would 
work to set it up, to meet with representatives of pharmaceutical 
companies of the American Chamber of Commerce and the pharmaceutical 
community in Sao Paulo for a dialogue, including on intellectual 
property rights (IPR) issues and the Ministry's priorities for the 
next four years.  Finally, the Minister said he would like to invite 
the new USAID Administrator to meet with him in the Amazon and 
discuss the health challenges that confront Brazil today.  END 
SUMMARY 
 
¶2.  On December 12, Ambassador Clifford Sobel met with the Brazilian 
Minister of Health, Jose Gomes Temporao, to advance bilateral and 
trilateral (U.S.-Brazil-South) cooperation.  The Minister was 
accompanied by his new International Affairs Advisor, Eduardo 
Botelho Barbosa.  USAID Brazil Director Jennifer Adams and Counselor 
for Environment, Science, Technology and Health Richard Driscoll. 
The Ambassador highlighted the possibilities for new cooperation 
since their meeting in July (REFTEL), the advances made with ongoing 
cooperation, and pressed for greater use of the bilateral Public 
Health Working Group to support the cooperation relationship. 
 
INVITATION FOR USAID ADMINISTRATOR TO VISIT AMAZON 
 
¶3.  The Ambassador noted that now would be a good time for the 
Ministry of Health to send a signal to Washington about its interest 
in cooperating with the United States on health matters.  Given the 
significant public health challenges in the northern part of Brazil, 
the Health Minister indicated his intent to send an invitation to 
the new USAID Administrator to meet with him in the northern part of 
Brazil. 
 
MALARIA COOPERATION 
 
¶4.  The Minister was concerned by the serious problem with malaria 
in Brazil, especially in the north.  There are 600,000 cases, he 
reported.  He looked forward to seeing the USG, together with the 
NGO "Malaria No More," supporting the Health Ministry and the State 
of Amazonas to develop a cooperative program there.  The Ambassador 
reported that he had spoken the day before with Ray Chambers, the 
founder of Malaria No More, and Chambers was very interested in his 
organization becoming more active in Brazil.  (Note.  On the same 
day that this meeting was taking place in Brasilia, representatives 
of the Health Ministry, the State of Amazonas, and USAID were 
meeting in Manaus to discuss the possibilities of a cooperative 
program.  End Note.) 
 
¶5.  The Minister added that he would like to see USG help with the 
threat of malaria to the estimated 40,000 workers coming in to Porto 
Velho, State of Rondonia, to work on construction of hydroelectric 
plants in the next few years.  The Ambassador informed the Minister 
of the interest of the Governor of the State of Maranhao in having 
assistance with malaria similar to that being discussed for the 
State of Amazonas.  Also, he told the Minister of his concern over 
the very high rate of Hepatitis B in the north.  He had heard that 
while the global average was very low (something around one percent 
of the population), the rate in northern Brazil very high 
(reportedly about 27 percent). 
 
PANAMA REGIONAL TRAINING CENTER 
 
¶6.  Following up on the successful visit in November of a delegation 
from the Health Ministry to the Regional Health-Care Training Center 
in Panama City, the Minister agreed to have a team from the U.S. 
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and from the training 
center come to Brazil to meet with counterparts on January 7-8.  The 
point of contact would be Assistant Secretary Francisco Campos, who 
led the Brazilian delegation to Panama.  The goal of the visit to 
Brazil would be to learn about Brazil's experience with PROFAE, an 
ambitious program that already has trained nearly 400,000 medical 
technicians, and develop a proposal for future trilateral 
 
BRASILIA 00000012  002.3 OF 003 
 
 
cooperation.  The Minister emphasized that Brazil itself did not 
assistance with training. 
 
¶7.  The Minister saw opportunities for cooperation with the USG and 
the training center.  He stated that in the 2008-2011 Long-Term Plan 
(called "Mais Saude" or "More Health"), which he recently released, 
it calls for the Health Ministry to provide assistance especially 
with the members of Mercosul and Lusophone countries in Africa.  In 
addition, the Long-Term Plan sets a goal of assisting these 
countries with "the large scale training in the area of health . . . 
drawing on Brazil's experience with [PROFAE]".  The Minister 
regretted that he would not be in Brasilia during this period and so 
would be unable to meet with the visiting U.S.-Panamanian team. 
 
¶8.  Subsequent to the meeting, Dr. Rosaly Correa-de-Araujo, HHS's 
Director of the Office of the Americas and spoke with Dr. Campos to 
arrange for the January 7-8 visit.  Dr. Campos had already heard 
from the Minister about the visit and was ready to help.  Dr. Nestor 
Mattos, the International Affairs Director of the training center, 
has agreed to participate in the visit. 
 
¶9.  The Minister indicated interest in the possibility of sending 
Brazilian specialists to teach at the training center in Panama. 
 
REACHING OUT TO THE PRIVATE SECTOR 
 
¶10.  The Minister offered to meet with representatives of the 
pharmaceutical industry and others in the private sector to brief 
them on the role he sees they could play in Brazil's health sector, 
which would include the topic of intellectual property rights.  The 
Ambassador said he would work with the American Chamber of Commerce 
in Sao Paulo to arrange for an invitation to speak on this subject 
early in 2008.  The Minister pointed out that the "Mais Saude" has a 
significant component regarding working with the private sector. 
For the first time there was a line item in the four-year plan for 
industry.  Moreover, he was pleased to announce that Novartis had 
just decided to build a US$ 500 million facility in the northern 
state of Pernambuco, turning down Singapore and Italy. 
 
¶11.  The Ambassador commented that having a dialogue with the 
private sector, which included discussing intellectual property, 
would be a great message and would resound well with the 
pharmaceutical firms.  The Minister noted he had just had a good 
meeting with Merck. 
 
¶12.  The Ambassador mentioned that he had learned of an intellectual 
property rights issues involving ANVISA (the Brazilian equivalent of 
the Food and Drug Administration).  The Minister suggested that the 
Embassy contact the Health Ministry Secretary for Science, 
Technology and Strategic Inputs, Reinaldo Felippe Nery Guimares, to 
discuss the matter; the Ambassador agreed with that course of 
action. 
 
LEVEL IV LABORATORY 
 
¶13.  The Ambassador asked about the Health Ministry's interest in 
setting up a biosafety level IV laboratory and, offered to assist 
where the USG can.  The Minister said they had thirteen level III 
laboratories and were studying the construction and maintenance 
costs associated with a level IV lab.  They were familiar with the 
CDC Level IV lab in Atlanta and they are planning to visit a similar 
lab in London.  He said they hadn't finished their analysis, though 
such a laboratory would be costly to build and to maintain. 
 
¶14.  If they were to set up a level IV laboratory, he commented, it 
would be available for other countries too.  USAID Brazil Director 
said this could be a real benefit to Brazil because it would help 
strengthen ties between Brazilian health officials and counterparts 
in the Americas. 
 
PUBLIC HEALTH WORKING GROUP 
 
¶15.  In June, both sides held the first meeting of the Public Health 
Working Group to address policy issues and to seek ways to improve 
and expedite the regulatory review process for medical research. 
The Ambassador pointed out that the cooperation had fizzled since 
the initial burst of activity in June.  The Minister took note of 
the matter. 
 
HEALTH ATTACHE 
 
¶16.  The Ambassador reported that an HHS commission selected one of 
Secretary Leavitt's key staff members to become the Health Attache 
 
SIPDIS 
 
BRASILIA 00000012  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
in Brazil.  He would be the first Health Attache in the Western 
Hemisphere.  The Ambassador predicted the attache would arrive 
shortly after completing his Portuguese language training in March. 
 
TRILATERAL COOPERATION 
 
¶17.  The Ambassador stated that joint cooperation activities in 
Lusophone Africa, or trilateral aid, attracted a great deal of 
interest from the White House and apparently also from Brazilian 
President Lula.  The Minister concurred and reported that his Mais 
Saude four-year plan included an emphasis on aiding 
Portuguese-speaking African countries.  He reported that FIOCRUZ, 
the prestigious Brazilian vaccine research institute, was planning 
to open an office in Mozambique. 
 
COMMENT 
 
¶18.  The meeting was a useful follow on to the July meeting among 
HHS Secretary Leavitt, Minister Temporao, and Ambassador Sobel, 
where the areas of possible cooperation were identified.  (REFTEL) 
Here, the focus was on very concrete steps: what can be done with 
malaria in the Amazon; looking at how to incorporate the best 
aspects of the Panama regional training center into Brazil's efforts 
to assist Lusophone Africa and the Mercosul countries, etc.  The 
aura of goodwill and cooperation extended even to areas where the 
Minister and the Ambassador and their spouses could jointly work to 
support breast cancer initiatives in Brazil. 
 
SOBEL