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 MARIANA DA CRUZ TORQUATO, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW AND CAMPUS DIRECTOR FOR THE CLASS OF 2021.
Faculdade Israelita de Ciências da Saúde Albert Einstein | São Paulo, Brazil | Advancing SDG 10 & UNAI 6
" I am a person who can’t help but want to solve things which unsettle me. This is how I feel about the effects of racism and other inequalities in our society and healthcare. I understand that to promote scalable and meaningful change, we need strong allies along with thoughtful and sustainable solutions, that will hopefully outlast our existence. That is, planting seeds that allow myself and others to see our goals flourish in our society.
The Millennium Fellowship is a way to potencialize the energy me and my peers have to make a change. It means taking in expertise needed for a better leadership, while being in contact with an immeasurably valuable and passionate community. "
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
Mariana da Cruz Torquato is a passionate, determined and proud African-Brazilian medical student from São Paulo, Brazil, who dreams high. Interested in healthcare quality and improvement, politics and policy, social business and technological innovations, she aspires to help build global positive change, starting with the health sphere. A part of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Open School chapter, she sees tackling racial and gender inequalities as essential goals for a better world.
In her free time, she is often singing, talking about adorable animals and enjoying the company of her friends, family and dogs!
