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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Water
Sec. Water and Human Systems
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/frwa.2024.1409387
This article is part of the Research Topic Water Supply and Sanitation in Rural Communities View all 5 articles

Quilombola women from Jequitinhonha (Minas Gerais, Brazil) and access to water and sanitation in the context of COVID-19: a matter of human rights

Provisionally accepted
Priscila Neves Silva Priscila Neves Silva *Bruna Schall Bruna Schall Flora R. Gonçalvez Flora R. Gonçalvez Estela M. Alves Estela M. Alves Sebastiana R. Santos Sebastiana R. Santos Polyana A. Valente Polyana A. Valente DENISE N. PIMENTA DENISE N. PIMENTA Leo Heller Leo Heller
  • René Rachou Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Belo Horizonte, Brazil

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    In Brazil there are currently 3,475 certified quilombo communities, reminiscent of Black communities founded by African enslaved people. In the Jequitinhonha Valley, a semi-arid region located in northeastern Minas Gerais State, Brazil, there are approximately 80 established communities, mostly in hard-to-reach areas with lack of access to water and sanitation services. Methods: Using the analytical framework of Human Rights to Water and Sanitation (HRWS) and with a gender perspective, this research aimed to analyze how access to water and sanitation occurs in two remaining communities of quilombos (Córrego do Narciso and Córrego do Rocha) located in the Jequitinhonha Valley and how lack of access to these services impacts the health and lifestyle of the population, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study used qualitative methods. Data was collected using individual interviews and focus groups. The data was analyzed using content analyses technique. Results: The results showed that access to water and sanitation in both communities did not respect the HRWS normative content and the lack of access impacted the lifestyle -the economic, cultural and social traditional activities-and the health of the population, especially for women. During COVID-9 pandemic access to water became even more difficult because the supply by water truck was discontinued producing more insecurity as people in the communities, especially women, needed to go to the city to buy water and food and could not keep isolation. Discussion: Public policies on access to water for rural populations, especially quilombolas, if guided by the HRWS framework and interwoven with the gender perspective, could ensure guaranteed quality of life for women and can strength their entitlements within their territories

    Keywords: water1, Sanitation2, Human rights3, women4, quilombolas5

    Received: 29 Mar 2024; Accepted: 03 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Neves Silva, Schall, Gonçalvez, Alves, Santos, Valente, PIMENTA and Heller. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Priscila Neves Silva, René Rachou Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Belo Horizonte, Brazil

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