Watch, “Out of Control? Covid 19 in Bolsonaro’s Brazil” at:
https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20200428-debate-out-of-control-covid-19-in-bolsonaro-s-brazil
Respond to the following questions:
In the context of a pandemic, what special political and public health concerns do poor nations like Brazil confront? How do these issues vary from those faced by economically developed countries? What are the political and public health problems that Brazilian and global leaders should face as a result of this pandemic?
Overview
Brazil is a big, populous, high/medium-income federal republic on the outskirts of global capitalism that is commonly regarded as one of the world’s most unequal countries. Its economic and social inequities are seen across regions and demographic groups in epidemiological statistics, access to and results from the health system.
Brazil’s health system, like that of other Latin American countries, was characterized for the majority of the twentieth century by public health programs aimed at controlling specific infectious diseases, combined with medical assistance services aimed at urban workers in the formal sector, according to a social insurance logic. Between the 1930s and the 1980s, the country went through a period of state-induced industrialisation that stressed import substitution, as well as a period of significant urbanization.
Because of decreased mortality and fertility and rising life expectancy, significant demographic shifts occurred. Health indices revealed an epidemiological shift marked by an increase in cardiovascular diseases, cancer diseases, and external causes (violence and accidents), as well as the persistence of older infectious diseases (tuberculosis, Hansen’s disease) and the introduction of new ones.
Pension systems and access to public health care were mostly expanded during authoritarian administrations, with little citizen engagement. Since the 1960s, there has been an increase in state incentives for the private sector, with the corporate health-care business strengthening throughout the subsequent decades. This arose as a result of social insurance organizations contracting for private health services (mostly hospitals) and economic incentives for enterprises to offer private health plans to their employees.
