As climate change intensifies droughts in the Amazon rainforest, traditional midwives like Tabita dos Santos Moraes become lifelines for pregnant women in remote communities where once-navigable rivers have shrunk to impassable streams, making the journey to hospitals dangerous or impossible.
Patricia Neves and Ana Paula Ano Bom, researchers at Brazil’s Bio-Manguinhos Fiocruz Foundation, are spearheading an initiative to create accessible mRNA vaccines, aiming to address global health disparities and combat emerging diseases.
In this short film from Brazil, we listen to nurses talk about the challenges they faced during the early days of the pandemic.
The movie Out of the Shadows is about three Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) scientists from Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Sri Lanka, and follows their work to discover, develop, and deliver cures for patients who have lived in the shadow for too long.
“When I arrived in Manaus, the grave diggers were working beyond capacity, all the hospital intensive care units were overflowing with dying patients, and there were lists with hundreds of severely sick patients waiting in health centres for an intensive care hospital bed to become free…”