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 LARISSA CHRISTINE GOMES DE SOUSA, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW FOR THE CLASS OF 2021.
Faculdade Israelita de Ciências da Saúde Albert Einstein | São Paulo, Brazil | Advancing SDG 10 & UNAI 6
" I am motivated to be a Millennium Fellow because I believe that, together with my colleagues, I will be able to promote information and actions that will impact the health system. I will be able to develop skills such as teamwork, organization, finance, leadership and proactivity. All this will be of great value for my training and development as a professional and as a citizen. "
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
Larissa Christine Sousa is a young woman full of hope and desire to change the world. She is a medical student at Israelita Albert Einstein School, located in Brazil, which is her country of origin. Her family is made up of retreatants from the Northeast, people who fled the drought and poverty of a region that is still very poor and needy in that country. Due to her origin, since she was little, Larissa was taught that every human being has a social duty to seek to help and improve the world, in order to achieve greater levels of social equality. For her, the best way to make this dream come true is through education.
During her graduation, she worked as a volunteer professor of subjects in the humanities, such as philosophy and geography. She believes such subjects can develop the critical and social thinking which she cherishes.
Currently, on the IHI team at her college, she has been working more and more in groups, demonstrating a spirit of leadership and motivation so that she can promote more equitable health for the entire population.
Larissa wants to be an instrument of social change. Wherever she goes, she wants to make her mark: justice and equality for all.
