A resiliência de sistemas de saúde: apontamentos para uma agenda de pesquisa para o SUS / The health systems resilience: notes for a research agenda for the SUS

RESUMO A pandemia provocada pela Covid-19 deu relevância à resiliência dos sistemas de saúde. Neste artigo, buscou-se explorar elementos que subsidiem uma agenda de pesquisa sobre resiliência para o Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS). A partir de revisão de escopo, analisou-se o desenvolvimento conceitual e metodológico da resiliência aplicada à pesquisa sobre sistemas de saúde em nível internacional e nacional, identificando quem são os grupos formuladores e o que propõem como modelos de análise. Em seguida, apresentou-se uma proposta de modelo de análise de resiliência adaptada às características do sistema de saúde brasileiro. O modelo embasou o apontamento de questões-chave a serem investigadas em pesquisas sobre a resiliência do SUS, a partir de quatro dimensões: governança e liderança, financiamento, recursos (força de trabalho, infraestrutura, medicamentos e tecnologias) e prestação de serviços. Ao final, discutem-se oportunidades e desafios para implementação de uma agenda de pesquisas de resiliência para o SUS.

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the resilience of health systems. In this paper, we seek to explore elements to support a research agenda on resilience for the Unified Health System (SUS). First, based on a scoping review, we analyzed the conceptual and methodological development of resilience applied to health systems research both at international and national levels, identifying who the formulating groups are and what they propose as analytical frameworks. Then, we propose an analytical framework adapted for the Brazilian health system features. The framework underpinned the pointing out of critical issues to be investigated in research on SUS resilience, based on four dimensions: governance and leadership, financing, resources (workforce, infrastructure, medicines, and technologies), and service provision. Finally, we discuss opportunities and challenges for implementing a research agenda on resilience for the SUS.

Effect of economic recession and impact of health and social protection expenditures on adult mortality: a longitudinal analysis of 5565 Brazilian municipalities.

BACKGROUND: Economic recession might worsen health in low-income and middle-income countries with precarious job markets and weak social protection systems. Between 2014-16, a major economic crisis occurred in Brazil. We aimed to assess the association between economic recession and adult mortality in Brazil and to ascertain whether health and social welfare programmes in the country had a protective effect against the negative impact of this recession. METHODS: In this longitudinal analysis, we obtained data from the Brazilian Ministry of Health, the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics, the Ministry of Social Development and Fight Against Hunger, and the Information System for the Public Budget in Health to assess changes in state unemployment level and mortality among adults (aged ≥15 years) in Brazil between 2012 and 2017. Outcomes were municipal all-cause and cause-specific mortality rates for all adults and across population subgroups stratified by age, sex, and race. We used fixed-effect panel regression models with quarterly timepoints to assess the association between recession and changes in mortality. Mortality and unemployment rates were detrended using Hodrick-Prescott filters to assess cyclical variation and control for underlying trends. We tested interactions between unemployment and terciles of municipal social protection and health-care expenditure to assess whether the relationship between unemployment and mortality varied. FINDINGS: Between 2012 and 2017, 7 069 242 deaths were recorded among adults (aged ≥15 years) in 5565 municipalities in Brazil. During this time period, the mean crude municipal adult mortality rate increased by 8·0% from 143·1 deaths per 100 000 in 2012 to 154·5 deaths per 100 000 in 2017. An increase in unemployment rate of 1 percentage-point was associated with a 0·50 increase per 100 000 population per rter (95% CI 0·09-0·91) in all-cause mortality, mainly due to cancer and cardiovascular disease. Between 2012 and 2017, higher unemployment accounted for 31 415 excess deaths (95% CI 29 698-33 132). All-cause mortality increased among black or mixed race (pardo) Brazilians (a 0·46 increase [95% CI 0·15-0·80]), men (0·67 [0·22-1·13]), and individuals aged 30-59 years (0·43 [0·16-0·69] per 1 percentage-point increase in the unemployment rate. No significant association was identified between unemployment and all-cause mortality for white Brazilian, women, adolescents (aged 15-29 years), or older and retired individuals (aged ≥60 years). In municipalities with high expenditure on health and social protection programmes, no significant increases in recession-related mortality were observed. INTERPRETATION: The Brazilian recession contributed to increases in mortality. However, health and social protection expenditure seemed to mitigate detrimental health effects, especially among vulnerable populations. This evidence provides support for stronger health and social protection systems globally. FUNDING: None.

Brazil's unified health system: the first 30 years and prospects for the future.

In 1988, the Brazilian Constitution defined health as a universal right and a state responsibility. Progress towards universal health coverage in Brazil has been achieved through a unified health system (Sistema Único de Saúde [SUS]), created in 1990. With successes and setbacks in the implementation of health programmes and the organisation of its health system, Brazil has achieved nearly universal access to health-care services for the population. The trajectory of the development and expansion of the SUS offers valuable lessons on how to scale universal health coverage in a highly unequal country with relatively low resources allocated to health-care services by the government compared with that in middle-income and high-income countries. Analysis of the past 30 years since the inception of the SUS shows that innovations extend beyond the development of new models of care and highlights the importance of establishing political, legal, organisational, and management-related structures, with clearly defined roles for both the federal and local governments in the governance, planning, financing, and provision of health-care services. The expansion of the SUS has allowed Brazil to rapidly address the changing health needs of the population, with dramatic upscaling of health service coverage in just three decades. However, despite its successes, analysis of future scenarios suggests the urgent need to address lingering geographical inequalities, insufficient funding, and suboptimal private sector-public sector collaboration. Fiscal policies implemented in 2016 ushered in austerity measures that, alongside the new environmental, educational, and health policies of the Brazilian government, could reverse the hard-earned achievements of the SUS and threaten its sustainability and ability to fulfil its constitutional mandate of providing health care for all.