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A panorama of health inequities in Brazil

© s_grigoriy123Edited by James Macinko and Célia Szwarcwald 
International Journal for Equity in Health

This series demonstrates the current breadth and depth of health inequities in Brazil across multiple health outcomes and stratifying variables, and illustrates a variety of methodological approaches to assessing and understanding such inequities.

All articles incorporate data from the 2013 Brazilian National Health Survey (Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde). This nationally-representative household survey includes data on over 60,000 individuals and incorporates questions on self-reported health services access and utilization, chronic disease, maternal health, physical functioning, mental and physical health status, injuries, and violence.

Papers have been selected based on scientific merit and efforts have been made to compose a selection of papers that are complementary, touch on key themes of inequalities in Brazil, and that explore the different ways in which social conditions reflect different aspects of health inequalities in such a large and diverse country.

This collection of articles has not been sponsored and articles have undergone the journal’s standard peer review process. The Guest Editors declare no competing interests.

View all collections published in International Journal for Equity in Health

  1. Despite depression being one of the most prevalent mental disorders in the world, access to treatment is still insufficient, especially in low- and middle-income countries. The aim of this study is to investig...

    Authors: Claudia Souza Lopes, Natália Hellwig, Gulnar de Azevedo e Silva and Paulo Rossi Menezes
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:154
  2. Considering the high socioeconomic inequalities in Brazil related to occurrence of morbidity and premature mortality, the objective of this study was to analyze inequalities in self-reported prevalence of Non-...

    Authors: Deborah Carvalho Malta, Regina Tomie Ivata Bernal, Maria de Fatima Marinho de Souza, Celia Landman Szwarcwald, Margareth Guimarães Lima and Marilisa Berti de Azevedo Barros
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:153
  3. A usual source of care (USC) has been conceptualized as having a health provider or place available for patients to consult when sick or in need of medical care. Having a USC is a means to achieve longitudinal...

    Authors: Inês Dourado, Maria Guadalupe Medina and Rosana Aquino
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:151
  4. The Brazilian Unified Health System is a public healthcare system that has universal and equitable access among its main principles, but the continental size of the country and the complexity of the public hea...

    Authors: Cristiano Siqueira Boccolini and Paulo Roberto Borges de Souza Junior
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:150
  5. The Brazilian SUS (Unified Health System) was created in 1988 within the new constitution, based on the premises of being universal, comprehensive, and equitable. The SUS offers free health care, independent o...

    Authors: Giovanny V. A. França, María Clara Restrepo-Méndez, Maria Fátima S. Maia, Cesar G. Victora and Aluísio J. D. Barros
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:149
  6. Considering the high socioeconomic inequalities prevailing in Brazil and lifestyle as a strong determinant of morbidity and premature mortality, our purpose was to evaluate the degree of socioeconomic disparit...

    Authors: Marilisa Berti de Azevedo Barros, Margareth Guimarães Lima, Lhais de Paula Barbosa Medina, Celia Landman Szwarcwald and Deborah Carvalho Malta
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:148
  7. Hypertension is a major public health issue worldwide, but knowledge is scarce about its patterns and its relationship to multiple axes of social disadvantages in Latin American countries. This study describes...

    Authors: Ronaldo Fernandes Santos Alves and Eduardo Faerstein
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:146
  8. In recent decades middle-income countries have experienced a rapid increase in the number of cars and motorcycles. Increased deaths and hospitalizations due to road traffic injuries (RTI) has been observed in ...

    Authors: Otaliba Libanio Morais Neto, Ana Lúcia Andrade, Rafael Alves Guimarães, Polyana Maria Pimenta Mandacarú and Gabriela Camargo Tobias
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:142
  9. The demographic shift and epidemiologic transition in Brazil have drawn attention to ways of measuring population health that complement studies of mortality. In this paper, we investigate regional differences...

    Authors: Célia Landmann Szwarcwald, Paulo Roberto Borges de Souza Júnior, Aline Pinto Marques, Wanessa da Silva de Almeida and Dalia Elena Romero Montilla
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:141
  10. Brazil has made progress towards a more equitable distribution of health care, but gains may be threatened by economic instability resulting from the 2008 global financial crisis. This study measured predictor...

    Authors: Pricila Mullachery, Diana Silver and James Macinko
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:140
  11. Socioeconomic differences in health in Brazil are largely driven by differences in educational attainment. In this paper, we assess whether educational gradients in chronic disease prevalence have narrowed in ...

    Authors: Hiram Beltrán-Sánchez and Flavia C. D. Andrade
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:139
  12. Globally, inequality between men and women manifests in a variety of ways. In particular, gender inequality increases the risk of perpetration of violence against women (VAW), especially intimate partner viole...

    Authors: Mariana V. Gattegno, Jasmine D. Wilkins and Dabney P. Evans
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:138
  13. This study assesses the association between socioeconomic factors and living arrangements with activity of daily living limitations (ADL) and the receipt of informal and formal care among non-institutionalized...

    Authors: Ma.Fernanda Lima-Costa, Juliana V. M. Mambrini, Sérgio V. Peixoto, Deborah C. Malta and James Macinko
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:137
  14. Mass population screening for the early detection of cervical and breast cancer has been shown to be a safe and effective strategy worldwide and has reduced the incidence and mortality rates of these diseases....

    Authors: Mariza Miranda Theme Filha, Maria do Carmo Leal, Elaine Fernandes Viellas de Oliveira, Ana Paula Esteves-Pereira and Silvana Granado Nogueira da Gama
    Citation: International Journal for Equity in Health 2016 15:136