The health conditions of the Xerente are quite reasonable, evidently, when contrasted to the precarious situation of various indigenous peoples in Brazil. They have a birth rate of close to 4%, well above the national average. Sicknesses such as malaria and yellow fever, which were in large part the cause of the drastic population reduction of the group up until the 1960s, today have been erradicated. Today, the sicknesses of greatest incidence among the Xerente are verminoses, flus, dysentery, bronquitis, pneumonia, rheumatism, conjunctivitis, scabies and tonsilitis. In the two cities most often visited by the Xerente - Miracema and Tocantínia - there are records of cases of AIDS among non-Indians, a fact which must be considered with some concern, since interethnic love affairs and marriages are common. A serious problem which mostly affects part of the adult male Xerente population is alcoholism, which, besides demoralization, debilitates the organism, making it more susceptible to illnesses. Health assistance is available both in the indigenous villages and in the nearest cities. In the villages there are indigenous health agents, trained through courses supported by accords between the FUNAI, the Prefecture of Tocantínia and the state government. In the cities, the Xerente seek assistance from the Unified Health System (SUS) post of the federal government in Tocantínia, the maternity ward and hospital of Miracema, or even the medical team of FUNAI in the Casa do Índio [House of the Indian] in the municipality of Gurupi.

The Xerente have already gone through various educational experiences: catechization by the Capuchinos (in the second half of the 19^th Century) and Dominicans (in the first three decades of the 20^th). Bilingual training has been sponsored by the Baptist missionaries since the 1950s. More recently (the 1980s), various kinds of specific support have been provided by other non-indigenous organizations and individuals - missionaries of CIMI, employees of FUNAI, anthropologists, the government of the State of Tocantins, the Federal University of Goiás. Formal school instruction in the villages, administered by around 30 indigenous teachers of both sexes (nearly one per village), is restricted to elementary education from the first to fourth grades. After finishing the fourth grade, continuing one's studies becomes more difficult because of problems of transportation and adaptation to the demands of non-indigenous schools, since secondary schools (which have from fifth to eighth grades) and high schools are located in Miracema and Tocantínia. But, even so, several Xerente have succeeded in graduating from secondary schools - with technical courses in education, administration, and accounting. Another alternative for students who have completed the fourth grade is to enroll in agricultural schools (boarding schools) at Catalão (GO). Presently, two Xerente are enrolled in state universities (in agricultural engineering and business administration).