The extension project “Ubuntu Experience of Anti-Racist Education”, a methodology developed at Unicamp and one of the research fronts of the Uhayle group, will reach new units of the Unified Health System (SUS) in Campinas. The project was among the topics presented at the opening of the Permanent Forum on the Health of the Black Population, Black Lives Matter, held this Wednesday (May 20), at the Unicamp Convention Center.
The project's creator and coordinator, Débora de Souza, a professor at the Faculty of Nursing (Fenf), coordinator of the Ethnic-Racial Diversity Commission of the Executive Directorate of Human Rights (DEDH), and one of the forum's organizers, emphasizes that the methodology, already applied in three classes within the municipal health network, will enter a new phase. "We will have two more classes this year and another three or four next year. The idea is to expand to reach the SUS (Unified Health System) networks in the state and, who knows, the country," she says.
Based on the so-called "4 Rs"—recognize, break, resist, and repair—the methodology, inspired by the African concept of Ubuntu, associated with collectivity, care, and interdependence among people, proposes an anti-racist training program aimed at students and health professionals. The experience has already been applied in sectors of the Unicamp hospital complex, including the Clinical Hospital (HC), the Women's Hospital (Caism), the Blood Center, the Gastrocenter, and the Community Health Center (Cecom), focusing on confronting institutional racism and other forms of oppression in healthcare environments.
For Souza, the process is fundamental to confronting discriminatory practices that have become normalized within the services themselves. “How can these professionals address these issues if they themselves normalize these practices?” she asks. “It’s necessary to recognize certain ideologies, prejudices, limiting ideas, and institutional practices. Then, to resist through collective work, affirmative action, and public policies, in order to repair and rebuild.”
The Uhayle group, he points out, recently secured funding from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). "We are one of the few projects in the country that have managed to get approval from these two funding sources," he celebrates.
Occupational therapist Mariana Rossi Avelar, who represented the Municipal Health Department at the event, explained that the partnership began within the Education through Work for Health Program (PET-Saúde Equidade), an initiative of the Ministry of Health focused on training in equity and intersectionality, which began in 2024. “We, SUS (Brazilian public healthcare system) workers, were also socialized within this structural context. It's no coincidence that many users report violence and harassment in the services,” she emphasized.
Resilience
The event brought together researchers, health professionals, students, and representatives of social movements to discuss strategies for promoting racial equity in public health and strengthening the National Policy for Comprehensive Health of the Black Population (PNSIPN). It also featured the online participation of Professor and researcher Chyrell D. Bellamy from Yale University in the United States.
A leading figure in studies on mental health, community care, and the Black population, Bellamy highlighted the importance of recognizing diversity and building care policies connected to the realities of the communities served. "Black people are not a single entity," she emphasized. Bellamy argued that universities and healthcare professionals need to develop practices that are closer to vulnerable populations. "Research must go where the people are."
The researcher added a fifth "R" to consider: "resilience." She drew attention to the social expectation that Black women should "always be strong and resilient," without their own care needs being taken into account.
New steps
The forum, organized by the Instituto Negras em Ação in partnership with sectors of the university and the public health network – an initiative that integrates the Permanent Forums of the Pro-Rectorate for Extension, Sports and Culture (Proeec) – aimed to increase the visibility of the debate on racism in health and strengthen spaces for discussion focused on the Black population. “We have made progress, but in very small steps. Therefore, we need to continue promoting this type of debate,” highlighted Lais Helena Cardoso, who heads the institute.
The Vice-Rector Sylvia Furegatti, from the Pro-Rectorate for Extension, Sports and Culture (Proeec), argued that the health of the Black population should be treated as an urgent issue within universities and public policies. “I represent a pro-rectorate that has diversity in its DNA. This cultural representation needs to be strengthened, and we will only be able to do this through urgency, with managers, researchers, professors, and colleagues.”
“I come from the artistic and cultural field, and I believe that one of the first forms of representation of the Black population is through art and culture. The color black is extremely important in various cultures. We need to make this symbolism more recognized and widespread, so that it is not confused with what we don't want in our symbolic and aesthetic daily lives. And that this symbolic meaning immediately translates into a structural sense, to the urgencies that bring us to this moment,” she concluded.
Professor Elisdete Santos, who heads the Executive Directorate of Human Rights (DEDH) at Unicamp, also highlighted the importance of creating support networks and strengthening the Black population within the University. “It’s very important, as a Black woman from the Northeast of Brazil, to know a community where I can feel welcomed,” she stated. “This is part of understanding that my life matters.”
Public health physician Pedro Tourinho, who also participated in the opening panel, highlighted that "the health of the Black population is influenced by genetic and biological issues, but, above all, by the consequences of racism, social exclusion, and historical segregation."
“We need to ensure that our Black mothers don’t die more often than other women in this country. We need to guarantee access to medicines and health services and recognize that the science we practice is also shaped by race and class,” she added.
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