Brazil's Universal Health System
2015
This article describes the development, adaptation, and rapid scaling up of Brazil’s community-based primary health care. Brazil has made rapid progress toward universal coverage of its population through its national health system, the Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS). Since its emergence from dictatorship in 1985, Brazil—which has the world's fifth-largest population and seventh-largest economy—has invested substantially in expanding access to health care for all citizens, a goal that is implicit in the Brazilian constitution and the principles guiding the national health system. The future of Brazil's Family Health Strategy (FHS), its sustained expansion to the remaining urban centers and the middle classes, and its effective integration into secondary and tertiary care will require continued engagement by health care providers and the public, as well as continued financial, technical, and intellectual investments—all of which ultimately depend on sustained political support.
Brazil's Universal Health System
Source:
Macinko J, Harris MJ. Brazil's Family Health Strategy—Delivering Community-Based Primary Care in a Universal Health System. The New England Journal of Medicine 2015; 372: 2177-2181. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp1501140.