Instituto Butantan and production of sera. The Instituto Butantan also operate the "Hospital Vital Brazil", a specialist hospital that offers free treatment for poisonous animal stings and bites. The institute also accepts donations of serpents, arthropods and other animals captured by the public and by a network of collaborating centers and individuals. The following research laboratories are part of the Butantan Institute: Important Brazilian scientists who have worked in the Butantan Institute are: Vital Brazil, Afrânio Pompílio Gastos do Amaral, Isaias Raw, Samuel Pessoa, Willy Beçak. The Institute has strong collaborative ties with the Pasteur Institute, Paris, France, and with the Oswaldo
Oswaldo Cruz Foundation Rio de Janeiro and other locations; however, it contributes to improving health throughout the country, through its support to the Sistema Único de Saúde (Unified Health System, the Brazilian public health system), its proposals on public health policy-making, its research activities, its scientific expeditions, and the reach of its health services and products. Fiocruz is one of the founding members of the International Association of National Public Health Institutes, a membership organization of national public health institutes. Oswaldo Cruz Foundation The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Portuguese Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, also known as FIOCRUZ) is a scientific institution for research and development