José Gomes Temporão (born 20 October 1951) is a Brazilian

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

, formerly of the

Brazilian Democratic Movement Party The Brazilian Democratic Movement (, MDB) is a Brazilian political party. It is considered a " big tent party" and it is one of the parties with the greatest representation throughout the national territory, with the most numbers of senators, ...

, who later joined the

Brazilian Socialist Party The Brazilian Socialist Party (, PSB) is a political party in Brazil. It was founded in 1947, before being abolished by the military regime in 1965 and re-organised in 1989 after the re-democratisation of Brazil. It elected six Governors in 201 ...

. He was

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...

from 2007 to 2010, during the second term of President

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known Mononym, mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist and former metalworker who has served as the 39th president of Brazil since 2023. A mem ...

's administration.

Biography

José Gomes Temporão was born in the

freguesia (), usually translated as "parish" or "civil parish", is the third-level administrative subdivision of Portugal, as defined by the 1976 Constitution. It is also the designation for local government jurisdictions in the former Portuguese over ...

of Merufe, in the town of

Monção Monção (; ) is a municipality in the district of Viana do Castelo (district), Viana do Castelo in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 19,230, in an area of 211.31 km2. The current mayor is the Social Democrat António Barbosa. The municip ...

, on the north of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, on October 20, 1951. His parents, Sara Gomes and José Temporão, emigrated to Brazil when he was just one month old, settling in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. His father is the owner of 'Mosteiro', one of the most well-reputed restaurants in downtown Rio. Temporão graduated on the

Federal University of Rio de Janeiro The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (, UFRJ) is a public university, public research university in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the largest federal university in the country and is one of the Brazilian centers of excellence in teaching and r ...

Medical School A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, professional school, or forms a part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, ...

on 1977. He became a researcher in

tropical diseases Tropical diseases are diseases that are prevalent in or unique to tropical and subtropical regions. The diseases are less prevalent in temperate climates, due in part to the occurrence of a cold season, which controls the insect population by for ...

on that same university and became a master in

at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation - FIOCRUZ. He later also got a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in Social Medicine on the

Rio de Janeiro State University Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ; ) is a public research university in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is one of the largest and most prestigious universities in the country. The university's law and medical schools are among the bes ...

. From March 1991 to April 1992, he was Sub-Secretary of Health for the State of Rio de Janeiro, appointed by the late

Leonel Brizola Leonel de Moura Brizola (22 January 1922 – 21 June 2004) was a Brazilian politician. Launched into politics by Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas in the 1930–1950s, Brizola was the only politician to serve as elected governor of two Brazil ...

. Some months later, in 1993, Leonel Brizola invited Temporão to be the director of IVB (Instituto Vital Brazil), one of the most important developers of vaccines in Brazil. Temporão is also a former director of the ational Institute of Cancer(INCA), between 2003 and 2005.

Ministry policies

Abortion

Temporão states that

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

should be treated by the government as a matter of public health. This represents the position of President Lula, as well. This caused outrage from more conservative sectors of the Brazilian society, such as the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops, and his own mother, described by him as a very devout Catholic. During

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

's visit to Brazil, he ceased to give statements about the issue, at the request of his mother.

Dengue and yellow fever

One of the first challenges encountered by Temporão as Health Minister was two endemic crises. The first was a yellow fever outbreak near

Pirenópolis Pirenópolis, also known as Piri, is a historic municipality located in the Brazilian state of Goiás. It is known for its waterfalls and Portuguese colonial architecture, and a popular festival involving mounted horses called Festa do Divino ...

, inward

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian States of Brazil, state located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District (Brazil), Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Ge ...

, and the other was a

dengue Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne disease caused by dengue virus, prevalent in tropical and subtropical areas. Asymptomatic infections are uncommon, mild cases happen frequently; if symptoms appear, they typically begin 3 to 14 days after ...

outbreak in Rio (Rio de Janeiro). During the dengue endemic, he was criticized by César Maia, then Mayor of Rio. Temporão responded that an outbreak in which several people died was not the most suitable moment for a mutual exchange of accusations. In 2001, he had been appointed by Maia as Sub-Secretary of Health for the City of Rio. He held office for five months, leaving because of political disagreements with Maia.

LGBT community

During Temporão's term he launched a national awareness campaign about the risk of HIV infection among the members of the LGBT community. During the 1st National LGBT Conference, he announced that he would support an ordinance allowing

sex reassignment surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their gender identity. The phrase is most often associat ...

to be performed by the

Sistema Único de Saúde The ''Sistema Único de Saúde'' (, ''Unified Health System''), better known by the acronym SUS, is Brazil's publicly funded health care system. Created in 1990, the SUS is the largest government-run public health care system in the world, by nu ...

(SUS), Brazil's public health system.

HIV/AIDS

On 10 October 2008, it was announced that SUS would be authorized, starting in 2009, to distribute

Raltegravir Raltegravir, sold under the brand name Isentress, is an antiretroviral medication used, together with other medication, to treat HIV/AIDS. It may also be used, as part of post exposure prophylaxis, to prevent HIV infection following potential e ...

, an

antiretroviral drug The management of HIV/AIDS normally includes the use of multiple Antiviral drug, antiretroviral drugs as a strategy to control HIV/AIDS, HIV infection. There are several classes of antiretroviral agents that act on different stages of the HIV li ...

for people with HIV who have developed multidrug resistance to common treatments. This is the 18th drug incorporated by Brazil's HIV treatment program.

Friction with his party

After declaring that the National Health Foundation is corrupt, Temporão came into conflict with members of his own party in the Congress. The president of the foundation is Danilo Forte, which is affiliated with Henrique Eduardo Alves, leader of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party in the Lower House. Despite pressures from the Congress, President Lula denied that Temporão or any other ministers would be dismissed before the 2010 elections. On 5 September 2011, he joined the

Other activities

Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) is a collaborative, patients' needs-driven, non-profit drug research and development (R&D) organization that is developing new treatments for neglected tropical diseases, neglected diseases, notab ...

(DNDi), Member of the Friends of DNDiFriends of DNDi

(DNDi).

References

External links

Biography of José Gomes Temporão at the Ministry of Health official website

José Gomes Temporão's academic curriculum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Temporao, Jose Gomes 1951 births Living people People from Monção Portuguese emigrants to Brazil Brazilian Democratic Movement politicians Rio de Janeiro State University alumni Ministers of health of Brazil Federal University of Rio de Janeiro alumni