On September 22 and 24, BIREME/PAHO/WHO visited Ilha do Marajó in Pará, Brazil, with Verónica Abdala, Manager of Information Products and Services, in coordination with the Secretariat of Digital Health Information (SEIDIGI) of Brazil’s Ministry of Health. The objective was to learn firsthand about the experience of the Telehealth Centers of Pará in offering telediagnostics and teleconsultations, as well as to follow the events in which the digital transformation of Brazil’s Unified Health System (SUS) in the state was discussed.
Telehealth in Marajó: expanding access to traditional populations
On September 22 and 23, the Permanent Forum of Marajó Citizenship was held in Soure, in the Marajó archipelago. The mission of this organized civil society initiative is to promote social justice, reduce inequalities, and expand equity in the territory. The meeting brought together local actors and representatives from different public and community sectors with the aim of coordinating policies in the areas of health, education, culture, diversity, combating violence, and protecting children, adolescents, women, traditional peoples, and LGBTQIA+ individuals, thereby strengthening the state’s presence alongside the Marajoara communities.
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During the event, the Telehealth Center of Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA) set up a temporary clinic to offer telediagnostic and teleconsultation services in cardiology and dermatology. In just two days, more than 30 people from the community benefited from the service, showing in practice the potential of telehealth to overcome barriers to access in a region marked by large geographical distances and infrastructure limitations.
This action is in addition to the progress made by the Telehealth in Marajó Program, which since February 2025 has been present in all 17 municipalities of the archipelago, thanks to the delivery of digital electrocardiogram equipment by PAC SUS (SUS is the Brazil’s Unified Health System). By August, more than 4,000 ECG reports had been produced, an important milestone considering that previously only the municipality of Ponta de Pedras had this resource available.
For Verónica, PSI Manager at BIREME/PAHO/WHO, participating in the mission was a transformative experience: “It was a unique opportunity to see the concrete impact that telehealth has on the lives of populations living in hard-to-reach regions. Often, it is not only distance that prevents care, but also the lack of doctors and basic equipment such as an electrocardiograph or X-ray machine. Experiencing this in Marajó was transformative“,
Seminar on digital health in Pará: challenges and innovations
On September 24, Verónica also participated in the Seminar on Digital Health in Pará, held in the auditorium of the Center for Health and Biological Sciences at the State University of Pará (UEPA). The meeting brought together municipal managers and representatives of the Secretariat of Information and Digital Health (SEIDIGI/MS), including Secretary Ana Estela Haddad, to discuss strategies for implementing and expanding the SUS Digital Program.
Among the main topics discussed were interoperability between systems through the National Health Data Network, the unification of SUS user records through the CPF (a personal ID number), and the consolidation of data governance that transforms records into qualified information for management. Pará was designated as a pilot state for the new RNDS information models, including the Laboratory Test Registry, RAC Teleconsultation, and RAC Teleinterconsultation.
SUS Digital Platform and systemic vision
The experiences gained at the two events fuel the development of the SUS Digital Platform, an initiative coordinated by BIREME/PAHO/WHO with SEIDIGI/MS. The platform will serve as a hub for information, projects, services, and applications of the SUS Digital Program, in addition to bringing citizens, managers, and health professionals closer together.
According to Verónica Abdala: “Participating in meetings like these is a golden opportunity to understand the scope of the SUS Digital Program and the connections between its various actions. This systemic vision will be essentially represented in the SUS Digital Platform that we are developing”.
Audiovisual production: stories from Marajó
The mission also resulted in the recording of a documentary. The footage captured consultations, testimonials from patients, health professionals, and municipal administrators, both at the UFPA campus in Soure and at basic health units and clinics in Belém.
The material will result in two documentaries about the arrival of telehealth in the quilombola and riverside communities of Marajó, which will be published on the SUS Digital Platform, reinforcing the visibility of the impact of these actions on people’s lives.