Coronavirus kills more youth in Brazil

Audio 02:29

By: Sarah Cozzolino Follow

In Brazil, coronavirus affects more young people than in other countries. While 95% of coronavirus deaths are over 60, in countries like Italy or Spain, they represent 69% of deaths in Brazil. A situation due to multiple factors. 

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Paolo Camargo is a doctor and is currently working in the field hospital at the Maracanã stadium in Rio, specially set up for patients with coronavirus. He was quickly amazed at the number of young people in intensive care.
“  All the cases of young people I had were obese. People between 20 and 30 years old, up to 40 years old ... All, without exception, had a significant degree of obesity.  "

In Brazil, 86 million adults are among the "risk groups" according to a study by the Federal University of Sao Paulo. And the country is facing a real “obesity pandemic” according to Eduardo Grecco, gastro surgeon.
“  Obesity is a disease. If we add up the people who are overweight and obese, we are talking about more than 60% of the population. If we take only the cases of severe and morbid obesity, it is around 15-20%, which represent the most serious patients.  "

The “age pyramid” in Brazil gives a second explanation for the high rate of young people affected: if the over-60s represent 25% of the population in Italy or Spain, they make up only 14% of the 210 million Brazilians.

According to pulmonologist Margareth Dalcolmo, the virus is "getting younger" in Brazil. “  It is not only a question of the distribution of our age pyramid, it is also that a large number of these young people live in very densely populated areas and in very socially dispossessed communities. economic.  "

The favelas, poor neighborhoods in Brazil, are more inhabited by young people, working in the informal sector. These poor workers are forced to continue their activity, and therefore more vulnerable to the virus.

Hugo Precep is a doctor in a family clinic in Rio. “  I think it has to do with the way our society reproduces : in inequalities, in the form of work organization, in access to public services, in public policies that try to reduce inequalities, in the 'access to education…  '

Finally, a final factor put forward by the experts: the influence of the Brazilian president's speech, which minimizes the pandemic from the start. Many of his supporters feel protected, and continue to participate in public demonstrations every Sunday.

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