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Scalping is the eradication of the scalp from the skull, in most cases because of boat motors. Scalping is a widespread problem in the Amazon region, where this type of accident is common, because of the poor safety conditions of the typical boats used to travel and to work throughout the Amazon River, called Voadoras.
Contents
Usual victims of these accidents in the Amazon are the ribeirinhos, rural people who live along the river and run on small boats to work and to get the city.
A protection for the voadoras engine was designed and produced, in order to prevent these accidents, but a lot of ribeirinhos still don’t use them.
Case Record
Accidents occur when the victims, approaching to the boat's engine to perform ordinary work, are drawn because of their long hair. The high speed motion of the motor rolls up the hair around it, pulling all or part of the scalp of the victims, along with ears, eyebrows and part of the skin.
This type of accidents leads to serious deformations, whose recovery is long and painful, and, in some cases, to the death.
Social Actions
On 14 January 2010 the Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, established with the Federal Law 12.199/2010, August 28 as National Day for the control and prevention of Escalpelamento (Portuguese: Dia Nacional de Combate e ao Prevenção do Escalpelamento).
On 20 January 2011, in Belém, capital of the Brazilian state of Pará, where the largest number of victims of the Amazon is registered, the first NGO dedicated to the escalpelamento victims is set up. The NGO deals in psychological assistance and helps the victims with their reintegration into the job market after the surgery and the long recovery.
In 2012, the NGO counts nearly 100 people assisted.