Impact of research on maternal and child health rights in Brazil short-listed for VC Award

The MRC funded project "EU QUERO" led by Amos Channon (SSD) and Pia Riggirozzi (PAIR) with partners at the University of Jataí/Goiás and Federal University of Maranhão in Brazil, has been developing an intervention since April 2019 to improve women's and children's healthcare and rights. Focused on the first 1000 days of life in two of the poorest states of Brazil, Maranhão and Goiás, with highest rates of maternal and child mortality, the project has produced a manual on the human rights to health regarding maternal and child health for use by community health agents. The manual supports community health workers everyday work with poor and vulnerable women raising awareness, providing information about their rights and methods for women to enable self-reliance and health seeking behaviour.

The manual and the whole intervention has been active in the field since September 2019 and the manual has been endorsed by the Secretary of Health for Maranhão, and by regional health secretaries in Goiás. There are plans to roll the manual out across the whole of Maranhão before the end of the intervention as it is seen as a powerful vehicle to improve women's and children's health. This is clearly the start of a process within Brazil to strengthen human rights for health and the EU QUERO project has been, and will be, a catalyst for this change.