The 1988 Constitution of Brazil defined a series of guarantees for the right to health and brought major changes to the health care system resulting in the creation of the Unified Health System, or Sistema Único de Saúde, (SUS). The SUS has been designed to ensure that access to health care is universal and free of cost. The SUS is administered by the Ministry of Health through a decentralised system that includes community participation as a method for effective implementation.
The SUS is inspired by the principles of universal access to health care services and provides comprehensive assistance with an emphasis on preventive health. Within SUS, primary care is provided through two coexisting models: the Family Health strategy, implemented by Family Healthcare Units, which work directly with the communities; and the traditional model, through a network of health care centres. A network of public and contracted clinics and hospitals provide secondary and tertiary healthcare. Specialised programming is also offered by the SUS through an approach that combines general and specialised services with preventative programmes. The SUS was consolidated as the main provider of medicines in the country, with 45.5 per cent of the population having received medicines at no cost in 2008. Through this comprehensive approach, the SUS achieved the eradication of measles in 2007, as well as the reductions in child mortality due to tuberculosis, malaria and HIV and AIDS.
The SUS in Brazil is grounded on a rights-based approach supported by the legal framework outlined in the national constitution. Prior to the introduction of the SUS, the health care system was heavily fragmented and exclusive of large segments of the population. Today the SUS is implemented through a consultative approach, including health councils which are composed of citizens, members of the government and health care providers and professionals. In order to ratify the SUS’s policies throughout the country, these councils operate at the national, state and local level.
Further Reading:
- Claudia Robles, Vlado Mirosevic (2012). Social Protection Systems in Latin America and the Carribean: Brazil. United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Carribean, Santiago. Accessed from http://www.cepal.org/en/publications/4062-social-protection-systems-latin-america-and-caribbean-brazil on December 2016.