Fiocruz is a federal-level health institute, devoted to research as well as to offering treatment to the general public, its work in both fronts being internationally recognized - Its main focus is studying the tropical diseases, their cures, vaccines and prevention.

The institution has been making historical progress in this area, having been responsible for the development of technologies for large scale production of yellow fever and small pox vaccines, the discovery of the Chagas disease and many other significative scientific achievements.

The institution was named after the well-loved brazilian scientist Oswaldo Cruz, responsible for eradicating the yellow fever and smallpox in Rio de Janeiro through a campaign received aggressively by the population in 1904, who was unaware of the good he was trying to do at the time.