Maria das Dores Marinho Gomes was born to be a midwife. Raised on an indigenous reservation in the heart of the Amazon, like her mother and grandmother before her she was taught as a young girl to deliver babies.

Now aged 46, she travels by boat - sometimes for two days - to reach the most far-flung communities in the Amazon.

“The first time I cut an umbilical cord, I felt this incredible rush of emotion,” she said. “My father had been stabbed to death. And using the knife to bring forth life, rather than kill someone, was the most incredible experience.

“From then on, I knew what I had to do. My whole life, I’ve wanted to help people.”

But her future is uncertain.