½ûÂþÌìÌÃ

Ola Maria ... Onde e que voce morer, talvez Fortaleza? Como esta la?

Olá.  Fala português?
Great.

Não, moro em Fortaleza. Moro em Rondônia,  próximo da Amazônia. Fica no norte,  Fortaleza fica no Nordeste do Brasil.

Hi everyone,

As we are on the english speaking forum, can we post in english only?

If you wish to post in Portuguese, here is the right forum for you : /forum/viewforum.php?id=8152

Thanks,

Priscilla
½ûÂþÌìÌà Team

I speak just enough Portuguese to get me into trouble ....

Hi Maria: Thank you very much for your offer of assistance to us newbies in Brazil. I will reach out to you I am sure. Stay well & God bless.

I went looking for the buttons to trade emails, contact info and take this conversation privcate but I could not find them ....

Inubia wrote:

I went looking for the buttons to trade emails, contact info and take this conversation privcate but I could not find them ....

To send anyone a private message, click on their avatar on any of their posts to open their profile.  Then, just click on the "Send a Message" button.

My wife and I are moving back to Rio and thinking about opening up a pharmacy or buying an existing one. Does anybody have any information to share as to which is the best way and is it very complicated to do so. Also a rough price in Brazilian money as well to start up a pharmacy or buy an existing pharmacy

Thank you
Danny

12/11/21

Hi, smadams0814

What an adventure, and what a wonderful thing to be doing.

Macapá is in the North of Brazil, not the Northeast, on the north bank of the enormous Amazon Delta.  Macapá is the capital of the state of Amapá, which borders French Guiana, so it's at the far northern edge of Brazil.  There are undoubtedly some English-speaking medical professionals in private (and public) hospitals there, but the working language will be Portuguese, and most employees will be monolingual Portuguese speakers.  Your program should be able to link you up with an English-speaking professional there.  A crash course in Portuguese, or even an online course, will be a big help.

Macapá is a city of over a half a million people, so you shouldn't have too much trouble getting routine prenatal care.  The nearest major city is Belém, the capital of the neighboring state of Pará, a 205 mile flight away.

After a slow start, vaccination rates are good across the North, and cases are down.  There's no telling what the effects of Omicron will be, though.  You should be fully vaccinated (both shots plus booster), and I would recommend being masked in all enclosed areas.  The Brazilian Government now is requiring proof of vaccination and a negative covid test for admission to the country.

I wouldn't say that "Brazil is popular to give birth".  I would say rather that, in spite of being rather remote, Brazil is a popular target for birth tourism, because it's a birthright citizenship country that is pretty liberal about granting tourist visas, and pretty liberal about granting residency to the foreign families of children who are born here.  Most of that activity takes place in the Southeastern region of the country, about 2,000 miles from where you'll be.

The people administering your program should be able to provide you with contacts for care before you come.  I would expect Macapá to have good basic care, but you definitely should confirm that with them.

Good luck!

12/11/21

dannybower wrote:

My wife and I are moving back to Rio and thinking about opening up a pharmacy or buying an existing one. Does anybody have any information to share as to which is the best way and is it very complicated to do so. Also a rough price in Brazilian money as well to start up a pharmacy or buy an existing pharmacy

Thank you
Danny

Hi, Danny,

I assume that you're a pharmacist.  Have you looked into the process of getting your professional credentials recognized in Brazil?  For most foreign professionals relocating here that can be a huge hurdle, and you probably want to include it in your planning.

You should also be aware that here, as in the United States, family pharmacies are being bought up by big chains hand over fist.

smadams0814 wrote:

Another question, if I’m taking the proper precautions (repellents long sleeves, etc) how worried should I actually be about Zika? Any information we have here says avoid travel.

According to the latest information from the state government in Amapá, diseases transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito in the state are up in 2021 compared with 2020, but still low, especially compared to the Zika high in 2016-17.  Figures for the first ten months of 2021 are:

Chikungunya -- 94, vs. 6 during the same period in 2020
Dengue -- 105, vs. 39
Zika -- 4, vs. 1

This is in a state with almost 846,000 people, and 55,000 sq. mi.  Many of those cases would have been in the interior of the state.  You'll probably be ok with normal mosquito avoidance practices.

If you'd like to run it through a translator, the entire report, in Portuguese, appears here: