Advanced search
Start date
Betweenand


Reducing Health Inequalities in Brazil's Universal Health-Care System: Accountability Politics in Sao Paulo

Full text
Author(s):
Coelho, Vera Schattan
Total Authors: 1
Document type: Journal article
Source: IDS BULLETIN-INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES; v. 49, n. 2, p. 20-pg., 2018-03-01.
Abstract

Brazil relies on the Sistema Unico de Saude (SUS), a public health-care system used by nearly 65 per cent of the population. This article analyses the role played by accountability mechanisms in expanding access to primary health care in the municipality of Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city. Two accountability mechanisms are described and discussed: political competition and outsourcing. The article shows that from 2001 to 2016 the supply of primary care grew and the disparities in access to public health services decreased across the city areas with both the best and worst indices of income, education, and health. These distributive results are striking given how difficult it is to reverse inequalities, as attested by the findings of a number of studies in different parts of the world which indicate that the richest populations tend to persistently benefit more than the poorest from public spending on health. (AU)

FAPESP's process: 13/07616-7 - CEM - Center for Metropolitan Studies
Grantee:Eduardo Cesar Leão Marques
Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers - RIDC