RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The potential impact of austerity on attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals in Brazil
JF BMJ Global Health
JO BMJ Global Health
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP e001661
DO 10.1136/bmjgh-2019-001661
VO 4
IS 5
A1 Luis Eugenio Portela Fernandes de Souza
A1 Rafael Damasceno de Barros
A1 Maurício Lima Barreto
A1 Srinivasa Vittal Katikireddi
A1 Thomas V Hone
A1 Rômulo Paes de Sousa
A1 Alastair Leyland
A1 Davide Rasella
A1 Christopher J Millett
A1 Julia Pescarini
YR 2019
UL http://gh.bmj.com/content/4/5/e001661.abstract
AB In the recent decades, Brazil has outperformed comparable countries in its progress toward meeting the Millennium Development Goals. Many of these improvements have been driven by investments in health and social policies. In this article, we aim to identify potential impacts of austerity policies in Brazil on the chances of achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and its consequences for population health. Austerity’s anticipated impacts are assessed by analysing the change in federal spending on different budget programmes from 2014 to 2017. We collected budget data made publicly available by the Senate. Among the selected 19 programmes, only 4 had their committed budgets increased, in real terms, between 2014 and 2017. The total amount of extra money committed to these four programmes in 2017, above that committed in 2014, was small (BR$9.7 billion). Of the 15 programmes that had budget cuts in the period from 2014 to 2017, the total decrease amounted to BR$60.2 billion (US$15.3 billion). In addition to the overall large budget reduction, it is noteworthy that the largest proportional reductions were in programmes targeted at more vulnerable populations. In conclusion, it seems clear that the current austerity policies in Brazil will probably damage the population’s health and increase inequities, and that the possibility of meeting SDG targets is lower in 2018 than it was in 2015.