Professional Master's Degree in Child and Women's Health 

In July 2019, UNFPA and FIOCRUZ signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in New York, which established the mutual commitment of the institutions to work to promote sexual and reproductive health and contribute, through research and qualification, to universal coverage in health services, with a proposal to establish a “Reference Center for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights”.

FIOCRUZ, through its Fernandes Figueira National Institute of Women's, Child, and Adolescent Health (IFF) and other research groups in Sexual and Reproductive Health, Health Quality and Health Information from other FIOCRUZ units should start to operate as reference center for this purpose toward the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

This reference center should meet with different partners, including developing countries, academia, civil society, and the United Nations. In this sense, it mainly aims to strengthen joint strategies in the context of South-South Cooperation, focusing on maternal health and emphasizing: 1. Technical discussion on the partner countries’ steps in reducing maternal death; 2. Assessment of ongoing actions and 3. Definition of the next steps within the framework of the joint strategy to reduce maternal death.

The institutions defined strategies for cooperation at the global and national levels and assumed four priority areas to focus efforts on the next actions: 1. Capacity building: training, educational technologies, and good practices; 2. Information, surveillance, and monitoring; 3. Research; 4. Promotion of community participation and organization.

Also, in cooperation with UNFPA, professors Maria Gomes, Claudia Bonan, Corina Mendes, and Martha Moreira participated as professors and consultants in the Enlace Project – strengthening obstetric and midwifery nursing, in light of the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the qualification of maternal healthcare and the promotion of rights in Brazil. This Project facilitated two editions of the Refresher Course on Human Rights for Obstetric Nurses and Midwives, offered by the IFF/Digital AVA in 2021 and 2022, having occupied such professors with their planning and production during the pandemic.

In 2019, two workshops were held in the context of this agreement, with the participation of professors from the program and representatives of the National Institutes of Health, the Ministries of Health of African countries, the UNFPA national offices in Cape Verde, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, Guinea-Bissau, Angola, and Senegal.

Professors Andréa Zin, Martha Moreira, and other MPSCM professors have regular inter-institutional exchanges with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine – UK, National Institute of Health, Mc-Gill University, Montreal Children Hospital, University of Leicester, University of California, Washington University, Medicine, Universidad de Lanús, Centre de Recherche Médicine, Sciences, Santé et Société – Paris, and CES/University of Coimbra.

In 2019, our highlights were international exchanges with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the National Institute of Health-NIH, with the leadership and participation of MPSCM professors in the following studies:

(1) INTERNATIONAL OBSERVATIONAL PROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY OF ZIKA IN CHILDREN AND PREGNANT WOMEN (ZIP study – Zika in Infants and Pregnancy Study), funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH) in the amount of R$ 5,400,000.00. The project's general objective is to measure the connection between the Zika virus during pregnancy and its adverse effects on mothers/fetuses and the risk of vertical transmission, contributing to the formulation of care protocols and public policies aimed at these groups.

(2) SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF THE ZIKA VIRUS INFECTION, with funding from the Wellcome Trust, in the amount of R$ 1,200,000.00, in partnership with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The research has fields of study Recife and Rio de Janeiro with analysis of quantitative, qualitative, and economic data.

(3) VERTICAL EXPOSURE TO THE ZIKA VIRUS AND ITS CONSEQUENCES ON NEURODEVELOPMENT, funded by FIOCRUZ PIP, CNPq 441098/2016-9 and 305090/2016-0, FAPERJ E_18/2015TXB; Wellcome Trust & United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (205377/Z/16/Z); European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under ZikaPLAN grant agreement no. 734584 RO1/ AI140718 (NIH/NIAID). Rio de Janeiro is the field of study.

These partnerships are consolidated in participation in publications, research activities and proposed strategies for monitoring children at risk for neurodevelopment as a result of exposure to the Zika Virus.

Professor Marcos Dias has an exchange with the Royal College of Midwifery and coordinates a study financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (FORTY WEEKS STUDY) with an exchange with other international centers to improve prenatal care in order to reduce prematurity rates and prevent Zika infection during pregnancy.

In 2018, the exchange with McGill University was also intensified, with the arrival of Professor Guilherme Santanna to plan and launch the Portal of Good Practices in Women’s, Child, and Adolescent Health. Professor Santanna attended the Portal Content Planning Workshops in 2018 and is part of the Portal Content Coordination.

Professor Andrea Zin has collaborated since 2018 with the International Center for Eye Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to develop the content of Retinopathy of Prematurity: Practical Approaches to Prevent Blindness, a massive open online course.

Academic Regimen: Semestral | Program Code: 31010016005P5

Program Concentration Area: Child and Women’s Health

CAPES Score: Master’s: five (5) | Doctorate: five (5)