From the city of Tigre, in the state of Anzoategui, Yianela Brizuel, a young Venezuelan woman 18 years old, mother of a baby 3 years old, crossed the Venezuela-Brazil border while she was three months pregnant, expecting her second child. The main motivation was the possibility to find better living conditions for her and her family. 

Today, reaching the eighth month of pregnancy, she remembers that, when arrived in Brazil, five months ago, she had her first contact with the United Nations Population Fund in the country through an informative lecture about sexual and reproductive health. On that occasion, topics regarding prenatal care were being discussed, and Yianela recognizes how important the meeting was to her.

“I can’t forget about this day, because we learned so many new things. A mother may believe that, for having a child already, she knows everything, but I realized that there were so many things related to pregnancy still to learn”, she explains.

On the same day, with the support of the United Nations Population Fund, Yianela and other women were addressed to the local public health facilities, to begin their prenatal care in Boa Vista, city where she and her family remains.

The United Nations Population Fund in Brazil works to assist pregnant women that arrive in Brazil with different needs, ensuring their rights to access health services and prenatal care in the state of Roraima, besides providing information regarding sexual and reproductive health and prevention of gender-based violence, through orientation and action.

“People don’t imagine how important is for us to have this kind of support in the situation we stand. Many of us, expectating to deliver our babies here, didn’t have this assistance and not all know how important is, for example, to take our vitamins, being careful about our posture, for having a child born with health”, says Yianela Brizuel, who awaits, with her husband and child and so much love, the arrival of the newest member of the family: Sofía.

The family of Yianela Brizuel is sheltered in the occupation Kaubanoko, in Boa Vista, that receives indigenous and non indigenous Venezuelan people.