Midwives and doctors from 20 cities in the region receive training to save newborns

The course will be held in the chapel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the Santíssimo neighborhood. The training will bring together 36 traditional midwives and 75 doctors and nurses who work in 20 municipalities in the region. The action is carried out in partnership with the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics (SBP) and the Sociedade Paraense de Pediatria (SPP).

On the first day (12), the program will be aimed exclusively at traditional midwives who work in areas that are difficult to access, such as riverside, rural communities, quilombolas and indigenous villages. At the end of the training, they will receive kits with first aid materials to carry out emergency procedures in their communities.

On the second day (13), the focus of the course will be on preparing doctors and nurses for high-risk neonatal transport and emergency management in hospitals and emergency care units. All dolls and simulation equipment used in practical classes will be donated to the Sociedade Paraense de Pediatria to continue new training in the state.

The coordination of the project in Pará is under the responsibility of pediatrician Vilma Hutim, together with the missionary couple Elder and Sister Obata, from the church's humanitarian department.

The initiative is part of a national project that, in 2026, will also include the municipalities of Tauá (CE), Campos dos Goytacazes (RJ) and Ponta Porã (MS). According to data from the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics, around 3,000 newborns die every year in the country from perinatal asphyxia (lack of oxygenation at birth), which represents an average of eight deaths per day.