Zilda Arns

Zilda Arns Neumann ( August 25, 1934 in Forquilhinha, Santa Catarina, Brazil, † January 12, 2010 in Port -au -Prince, Haiti) was a Brazilian physician. She was President of the Pastoral da Criança, the children ministry of the Catholic Church in Brazil.

Life

Zilda Arns was born, as well as her twelve brothers and sisters as a child of the German, coming from the Moselle area immigrants couple Gabriel Arns (1890-1965) and Helene Steiner ( 1894-1974 ). Her brother is the retired in April 1998, Archbishop of São Paulo, Paulo Evaristo Arns OFM Cardinal.

Zilda Arns lived in Curitiba, State of Parana, where he worked as a pediatrician at Children's Hospital Cezar Pernetta. Later, she was Director of the Department of Mother and child of the state of Paraná. You created authoritative standards for the health care of mothers and children, together with the University of São Paulo (USP) and the Pan American Health Organization ( PAHO ), the World Health Organization (WHO).

In 1980 she became involved at the request of the Holy See in Rome in the fight against polio epidemic in União da Vitória and led a nationwide polio vaccine Sabin.

In 1982 she founded together with Geraldo Majella Agnelo, archbishop of Sao Salvador da Bahia and then Archbishop of Londrina, on behalf of the Brazilian Bishops' Conference ( CNBB ) the " Pastoral da Criança " as a measure against the high infant mortality in Brazil. With 250,000 volunteers 1.9 million women and children under six years and 1.4 million poor families are provided in 4063 municipalities in Brazil. In 2005 she also received from the cnbb ( Brazilian Bishops' Conference ) is mandated to establish an appropriate work for the elderly, which currently looks after 14,000 volunteers to 129,000 older people. She made the pastoral to the largest voluntary organization in Brazil.

It was considered the most famous woman of Brazil and has received national and international awards and proposed several times for the Nobel Peace Prize.

On December 26, 1959 she married Aloysio Bruno Neumann ( 1931-1978 ), with whom she had four sons and two daughters. The first born son, Marcelo Arns Neumann, died three days after birth. Of the other five children still live four.

Zilda Arns, who visited the organization in Haiti died in the earthquake in Haiti on 12 January 2010.

Honors and Awards (selection)

  • Prêmio Internacional em Administração Sanitária ( OPAS, 1994)
  • Prêmio Humanitário (Lions Club Internacional, 1997)
  • Personalidade Brasileira de Destaque no Trabalho em Prol da Saúde da Criança ( Unicef ​​, 1988)
  • Prêmio Direitos Humanos (USP, 2000)
  • Heroína da Saúde Pública das Américas ( OPAS, 2002)
  • Opus Prize (2006)
  • Woodrow Wilson Award of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation ( 2007)
  • Honorary doctorates from the universities: Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense do Criciúma, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina and Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina.
  • Honorary citizen of 10 countries and 35 counties
Port-au-Prince
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