Project Acre
Project Acre took life in the city of Acrelandia, founded in 1993 just 112 km from Rio Branco, the capital of the Amazonian state of Acre. Acrelandia occupies 1,607.5 km between the Abuña and Iquiri rivers in the Acre River Valley and neighbors Senador Guiomard and Placido de Castro, both cities that border the Brazilian states Amazonas and Rondonia as well as Bolivia.
Acrelandia is a typical agricultural frontier town, distinguished by the diverse medley of its inhabitants. This colorful town is populated by families who migrated from all over Brazil, incentivized by colonization programs developed by the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform. At approximately 11,520 inhabitants, Acrelandia holds one of the lowest indicators of socioeconomic and childhood development. In 2000, the city´s Human Development Index was 0.680, with a childhood mortality rate of 70.75 deaths per 1,000 live births and a 23.4% illiteracy rate.
The University of São Paulo (USP) in collaboration with researchers from the Federal University of Acre (UFAC) have conducted health and nutrition research in the region since 2003. Professor Monica da Silva Nunes (UFAC) launched research on malaria, work which is coordinated by Professor Marcelo Urbano Ferreira (USP). Research that investigates the population´s nutritional status is coordinated by Professors Marly Augusto Cardoso (USP, School of Public Health) and Pascual Torres Muniz (UFAC).
