Analysis of Public Health Issues and SDGs in Brazil: A Case Study

This case study examines public health issues in Brazil, focusing on the impact of sustainable development goals (SDGs) and areas leading to stagnation, such as climate action and poverty. It critically evaluates prevalent public health issues, including malaria and vector-borne diseases, highlighting the influence of social, environmental, and political determinants. The report explores the relevance of evidence-based solutions, emphasizing the role of the Brazilian National Health System and international organizations like the WHO. The study reviews the responses to public health challenges, comparing Brazil's strategies with global approaches, and concludes by underscoring the importance of critically analyzing a country's progress toward SDGs to ensure effective betterment in public health and sustainable development.

CASE REPORT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
SDG Goals And Areas Leading To Stagnation......................................................................1
Critical Evaluation Of Public Health Issues...........................................................................2
Relevance Of Evidence-Based Solutions...............................................................................5
Critical Review And Response Of Public Health Issue.........................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Sustainable Development goals refers to an effective combination of several objectives
for a nation, which are associated with ensuring sustainable development (Fulquet and Pelfini,
2015). These are effective in context of ensuring an appropriate long term functioning of the
country, in several variables, such as, political, social and epidemiological fronts (Wood and
DeClerck, 2015). The report below is based on identification as well as a critical evaluation of
several Sustainable Development Goals and areas in Brazil and critical review of public health
issues and responses within a global context.
MAIN BODY
SDG Goals And Areas Leading To Stagnation
Brazil is one of the largest nations in both Latin, as well as, South America, which is
required is several advancements in terms of sustainability in the nation. However, it is highly
debated that there are several areas and sustainable development goals (de Andrade and et. al.,
2015) which are leading the nation into stagnation. Some of these goals and areas are discussed
below:
 Climate Action:
Through this goal, Brazil aims at appropriately taking integrated measures against the
overall environmental issues, as well as effectively aim at promoting appropriate mechanism to
ensure effective capacity for environment (Coelho, Segatto, and Frega, 2015). However, in
context of Brazil, this area is prominently leading into stagnation. Reason for the same is that
there is a major threat within the natural areas and habitats within the country, mostly in context
of bean, particularly soil. As per UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), the main
agricultural crop harvested within Brazil is soy, with a rate of higher than 21 million ha under
cultivation (ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS IN BRAZIL, 2019). Another severe environmental
point which is leading the progress towards stagnation is deforestation. For instance,
deforestation within areas like Amazon and Cerrado have surpassed the critical levels (Avelar
and et. al., 2015).
 Poverty:
Another area which is leading into stagnation, while assessing the progress towards
sustainability development (Schwerhoff and Sy, 2017). This goal is associated with eradication
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of poverty as per the Agenda 2030. However, due to several reports, within 2017, around 55
million Brazilians were below poverty line, which is almost 2 million more than in 2016 (The
hallmark of the Brazilian National Health System (SUS), 2019). However, this number is
constantly increasing which is almost causing an economic stagnation within country (Nugent
and et. al., 2018).
Critical Evaluation Of Public Health Issues
Public Health within the overall country and there are several public health issues that are
quite prevalent within the nation (Wada, Gain, and Giupponi, 2016). There are several
determinants, prominently social, environmental and political, which are associated with the
public health. For instance, The evident economic as well as political crises are leading to
adoption of a neo-liberal model for health and social care. As an example, despite rising health
issues, the government undershot its health budget in 2017, along with its withdrawal from
Social Protection Plan. In terms of environmental, the degradation of environment in areas like
Amazon are causing rise in health issues within the country, such as, Malaria. Socially, rising
poverty and unfulfilled demands in terms of policies and economic status are also causing major
health issues within the country (Wittman and Blesh, 2017). Hence, this reflects that one of the
major public health issues within Brazil is related to diseases like malaria. Furthermore, there are
several appropriate areas where this disease has spread quite aggressively in recent years.
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Illustration 1: Extra-Amazonian Malaria in Brazil
(Source: Increasing Complexity Threatens the Elimination of Extra-Amazonian Malaria in
Brazil, 2019)
As reflected above, there are certain areas around Atlantic Forest, which has
appropriately and effectively showcased presence of this disease, along with certain areas like
Cerrado are being quite prone to this disease. Furthermore, the recent events within the Amazon
forest has induced further challenges for the nation to deal with this public health issue.
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Illustration 2: Spatial spread of malaria
(Source: Spatial spread of malaria in Brazilian Amazon, 2019)
The data presented above reflects several areas within Brazilian Amazon which have
witnessed certain cases of Malaria in the past decade, which makes it a prominent public health
issue that is required to be dealt by the country. However, while the country is progressing with
several medicinal treatment and vaccinations, it is failing to control its environmental impacts
and misuses, which is being a prominent cause in terms of spatial spread of this public health
issues within areas like Brazilian Amazon.
However, within the country, there is an evident role of national as well as international
organisation and initiatives in context of improving the health issues. One effective organisation
is Brazilian National Health System (Spratt and Barone, 2015). This organisation is related to
ensuring development of appropriate health related strategies, which could ensure development
in terms of health of individuals within the country. It has a prominent role in dealing with public
health issues, like the one mentioned above. For example, the system is quite effective in terms
of working with several health managers, which enhance the healthcare administrative capacity,
to deal with neglected diseases like Malaria, as well as other chronic conditions, such as
hypertension, diabetes, cancer, etc. (Global Consortium Supporting Low- and Middle-Income
Countries, 2019). In terms of international organisation, World Health Organisation has crafted
several policies in recent times in context of dealing with health issues like Malaria within
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Brazil. Furthermore, there are several initiatives which are being adopted by the nation in order
to deal with the health issues. For example, one initiative is Primary Health Care Performance
Initiative. It is a community based approach which adopts The Family health Program. This is
associated with greater accessibility to the people to acquire medical services (Szabo and et. al.,
2015).
Relevance Of Evidence-Based Solutions
In context of addressing the population health needs in Brazil, evidence-based solutions
are quite relevant to deal with the health issue in the country. For instance, its National
Commission has appropriately adopted several new practices, inclusive of new technologies and
medicines, which are quite effective and relevant in terms of dealing with public health issues
(Brelsford and et. al., 2017).
However, there is a significant difference between implementation solutions within
lower, middle and high income countries. This is because, within middle and lower income
countries, there is significant constraint in terms of funding, which refrains implementation of
evidence-based solutions on a large scale (Dodds, Donoghue, and Roesch, 2016). However, to
improvise the same, a global consortium is being undertaken to ensure implementation of such
solutions, which is being funded globally to ensure reduction in barriers and promotion of
evidence-based healthcare (Pérez-Escamilla, 2017).
Critical Review And Response Of Public Health Issue
There are several public health issues within Brazil, as mentioned above. However, one
of the most prominent issue which the country is facing is Vector-borne diseases. This could be
reflected by the enhancing rates in illnesses like dengue, which has recorded around 1.4 million
probable cases of this disease within 2016 (DESTINATION OVERVIEW, 2019). However, this
rate is highly enhancing, due to practices like deforestation, as well as, inappropriate policies by
government, which are ineffective in context of dealing with this health issue.
However, in order to do so, the nation could use examples globally, which reflects
appropriate responses in terms of political, social and epidemiological manners. For instance,
within India, the government has drafted certain policies and has developed a National Vector
Borne Disease Control Program to deal with the problem effectively (National Vector Borne
Disease Control Programme, 2019). In social aspects, World Health Organisations has taken a
global response, which provides guidance to several countries on how best to deal with the
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public health issue. Hence, taking appropriate guidance and ensuring improvement in
epidemiological terms, the country could deal with the situations appropriately(World Health
Organization, 2016).
CONCLUSION
Thus, it is concluded that sustainable development goals are quite effective in context of
enhancing the scope of overall improvement within a nation. Hence, it is highly important that a
country is critically analysed in terms of their progress towards these goals, to ensure effective
betterment in context of enhancing the scope of improvement. This could be done through
critically evaluate public health issues, judging relevance of evidence-based solutions, as well as
assessing the response in a global context.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Avelar, S., and et. al., 2015. Community perceptions for geoconservation of a coastal area in Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil. Geoheritage. 7(3). pp.275-283.
Brelsford, C., and et. al., 2017. Heterogeneity and scale of sustainable development in cities.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 114(34). pp.8963-8968.
Coelho, T.R., Segatto, A.P. and Frega, J.R., 2015. Analysing ICT and development from the
perspective of the capabilities approach: A study in South Brazil. The Electronic
Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries. 67(1). pp.1-14.
de Andrade, L.O.M., and et. al., 2015. Social determinants of health, universal health coverage,
and sustainable development: case studies from Latin American countries. The Lancet.
385(9975). pp.1343-1351.
Dodds, F., Donoghue, A.D. and Roesch, J.L., 2016. Negotiating the sustainable development
goals: a transformational agenda for an insecure world. Taylor & Francis.
Fulquet, G. and Pelfini, A., 2015. Brazil as a new international cooperation actor in sub-Saharan
Africa: Biofuels at the crossroads between sustainable development and natural resource
exploitation. Energy Research & Social Science. 5. pp.120-129.
Nugent, R., and et. al., 2018. Investing in non-communicable disease prevention and
management to advance the Sustainable Development Goals. The Lancet. 391(10134).
pp.2029-2035.
Pérez-Escamilla, R., 2017. Food security and the 2015–2030 sustainable development goals:
From human to planetary health: Perspectives and opinions. Current developments in
nutrition. 1(7). p.e000513.
Schwerhoff, G. and Sy, M., 2017. Financing renewable energy in Africa–Key challenge of the
sustainable development goals. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 75.
pp.393-401.
Spratt, S. and Barone, B., 2015. National Development Banks in the BRICS: Lessons for the
Post-2015 Development Finance Framework.
Szabo, S., and et. al., 2015. Sustainable development goals offer new opportunities for tropical
delta regions. Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development. 57(4).
pp.16-23.
Wada, Y., Gain, A.K. and Giupponi, C., 2016. Measuring global water security towards
sustainable development goals. Environmental Research Letters. 11(12). pp.2-13.
Wittman, H. and Blesh, J., 2017. Food Sovereignty and F ome Z ero: Connecting Public Food
Procurement Programmes to Sustainable Rural Development in B razil. Journal of
Agrarian Change. 17(1). pp.81-105.
Wood, S.L. and DeClerck, F., 2015. Ecosystems and human well‐being in the Sustainable
Development Goals. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 13(3). pp.123-123.
World Health Organization, 2016. World health statistics 2016: monitoring health for the SDGs
sustainable development goals. World Health Organization.
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DESTINATION OVERVIEW. 2019. [Online] Available Through:
<https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2020/popular-itineraries/brazil>
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS IN BRAZIL. 2019. [Online] Available Through:
<https://wwf.panda.org/wwf_offices/brazil/environmental_problems_brazil/>
Global Consortium Supporting Low- and Middle-Income Countries. 2019. [Online] Available
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National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme. 2019. [Online] Available Through:
<https://www.nvbdcp.gov.in/>
The hallmark of the Brazilian National Health System (SUS). 2019. [Online] Available Through:
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healthcare-system-new-study>
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