ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2021
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. In 2021, over 25,000 young leaders on 2,000+ campuses across 153 nations applied to join the Class of 2021. 136 campuses worldwide (just 6%) were selected to host the 2,000+ Millennium Fellows. The Class of 2021 is bold, innovative, and inclusive.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT ALEXANDRE HIROKI KAWAKAMI, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW FOR THE CLASS OF 2021.
Faculdade Israelita de Ciências da Saúde Albert Einstein | São Paulo, Brazil | Advancing SDG 10 & UNAI 6
" Being a Millennium Fellow I am sure I am about to improve my social skills, specially leadership. To be a changer citizen, I have to expose my opinions and give voice to the minority. So, this opportunity is going to give me new experiences of working with diversity and contributing to the plurality. I am passionate about contributing to the community, so this project aligned with the UNAI principles is the start to new changes. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: Colors of Care | Cores do Cuidado
Research shows that black Brazilians have notably less access to healthcare than their white counterparts. Moreover, nearly a quarter of them feel or have felt discriminated in their health appointments. This situation isn't any different in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, where death rates are 40% higher for Afro-brazilians. In light of such disparities, we understand race as a Social Determinant of Health, which drives this share of our population to less access and poorer care. Colors of Care focuses on diminishing racial prejudices in healthcare, through the awareness and education of healthcare professional teams in Brazil. Colors of Care has three fronts:
(i) Listening to patients and health workers who have suffered, witnessed or practiced any form of racism. These videos and written statements are to be gathered into an awareness material;
(ii) Building a booklet and posters which explore racism in healthcare to be distributed digitally and in primary care clinics (PCCs) of our Public Health System (SUS);
(iii) Enable PCC teams to identify and act on racism in the healthcare environment, through workshops and short training sessions of multiple workers. Our dream is that, after this fellowship, we have the tools to expand our project and, perhaps, create a public ambulatory specialized in the needs of the Afro-brazilian along with the PCC teams we have trained. In the future, we hope this project grows and inspires other healthcare professionals and undergraduates to keep looking for ways to decrease racial disparities and improve quality in care.
While struggling to move on with phases (i) and (ii), we focused our efforts on social media, to educate healthcare professionals and the general population.
3. Who are you serving?
All people who seek healthcare, specially those who are impacted by racism, students and healthcare professionals.
About the Millennium Fellow
Alexandre Hiroki Kawakami is a sympathetic, motivated and resilient medical student. He is passionate about hearing story of other’s life, specially when hardships end in learning and thankful experience. As you realized, Alexandre is an emocional person who is always trying to see life through rose-coloured glasses. And that is why he loves involving in philanthropic projects: besides contributing to the society, meeting amazing people is so grateful.
Finally, Alexandre is always looking for improve himself, so he plans to continue involving in news projects, specially when it is possible to contribute to create a better place.
