Covid-19 has killed at least 137 nursing professionals and contaminated at least 4,100. Nurses make up Brazil's largest health workforce, with more than 2.3 million people
According to the International Nursing Council, the deaths represent 34% of the world's total, and Brazil's leads the ranking.
For the intensive care nurse Renata Pietro, 44, president of the nursing department of the Brazilian Intensive Care Association, the country does not value these professionals who are now at the forefront of the health crisis.
"We have no one looking for nursing professionals. We are at war, defending the health care system, but the troops are abandoned on the front, the soldiers are unarmed, underpaid," she said.
Pietro, a doctor in health sciences, said that professionals are suffering from fatigue and emotionally shaken by the death of colleagues and the risk of contamination. They are also suffering person attacks.
Now they are suffering from wage cuts and layoffs, adding to more anguish and stress, she said. "It is also a risk to the quality of the assistance provided by them."
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon