'Scorched Earth: The portrait of health in Brazil after the Bolsonaro's administration and the first 100 days of the Lula Government in health'.

This article is a rejoinder to the rebuttal letter authored by Jair Bolsonaro's former Minister of Health and Secretary of Primary Care to our initial article, 'From Bolsonaro to Lula: The opportunity to rebuild universal healthcare in Brazil during the government transition,' published in the International Journal of Health Planning and Management. We aim to refute the claims that we consider unsubstantiated and disconnected from reality, while reiterating the risks posed by authoritarian and antidemocratic far-right governments, such as Bolsonarism in Brazil, to the sustainability and resilience of universal health systems. This political threat is gaining momentum across several countries worldwide, thereby endangering the Democratic Rule of Law, institutions, and social policies. Furthermore, we emphasise the significant actions implemented during the first 100 days of President Lula's government, which align with the priorities established during the governmental transition process and strengthen the prospects of reconstructing and fortifying the Brazilian universal health system.

From Bolsonaro to Lula: The opportunity to rebuild universal healthcare in Brazil in the government transition.

This paper takes the government transition that took place between 2022 and 2023 in Brazil as a case study and aims to analyse how a cycle of radical right-wing populist government acted to dismantle Brazil's national health system foundations. It describes how governance was built based on political-clientelism and market-privatising interests and on the adoption of long-term fiscal austerity policies, whose results are public defunding and weakening and disorganisation of the country's national health system, with a significant worsening of health indicators and the capacity to respond to the population health needs. The lessons from recent experience in Brazil should serve as learning and a source of academic and political reflection, since there is an ongoing international movement and signs of rise of radical right-wing populist regimes in several countries, which endanger the Democratic Rule of Law, institutions, and social policies. It allows putting into perspective how political cycles of this nature can affect national universal health systems, including those that have experienced substantial progress towards universal access and universal health coverage. Keeping in mind the Brazilian experience, it was possible to observe the progressive structuring of a radical right-wing neo-populism and in the sanitarian.

Reformas de los sistemas de salud en Sudamérica: una oportunidad para UNASUR / Health system reforms in South America: an opportunity for UNASUR

Los sistemas de salud de América del Sur siguen soportando la segmentación, la privatización y la fragmentación. Las reformas del sector salud de los programas de ajuste estructural de los años 1980 y 1990 en Sudamérica siguieron diferentes propósitos y estrategias, que van desde la privatización, la mercantilización y la intervención del Estado para la implementación de un servicio nacional de salud pública con el acceso universal como un derecho de los ciudadanos. Desde la década de 2000, muchos países ampliaron las políticas sociales, la reducción de la pobreza y las desigualdades sociales y la mejora del acceso a la asistencia sanitaria. Este artículo propone discutir los sistemas de salud de América del Sur a partir de los antecedentes históricos políticos y de los avances a partir de las reformas en las últimas tres décadas. Asimismo, presenta los tres modelos paradigmáticos de reforma y su evolución, bien como los contrastes entre la cobertura universal y los sistemas universales. Finalmente, presenta las fortalezas y debilidades actuales de los doce sistemas de salud de Sudamérica y las oportunidades y desafíos en salud que se presentan para UNASUR en el momento actual.

Health systems in South America still support segmentation, privatization and fragmentation. Health reforms of the structural adjustment programs in the 1980s and 1990s in South America followed different purposes and strategies ranging from privatization, commodification and state intervention for the implementation of a national public health service with universal access as a right of the citizens. Since the 2000s, many countries have expanded social policies, reduced poverty and social inequalities, and improved access to healthcare. This article proposes to discuss the health systems in South America from historical and political backgrounds, and the progress from the reforms in the last three decades. It also presents the three paradigmatic models of reform and their evolution, as well as the contrasts between universal coverage and universal systems. Finally, it presents current strengths and weaknesses of the twelve South American health systems as well as current opportunities and challenges in health for UNASUR.

[Health system reforms in South America: an opportunity for UNASUR]. / Reformas de los sistemas de salud en Sudamérica: una oportunidad para UNASUR.

Health systems in South America still support segmentation, privatization and fragmentation. Health reforms of the structural adjustment programs in the 1980s and 1990s in South America followed different purposes and strategies ranging from privatization, commodification and state intervention for the implementation of a national public health service with universal access as a right of the citizens. Since the 2000s, many countries have expanded social policies, reduced poverty and social inequalities, and improved access to healthcare. This article proposes to discuss the health systems in South America from historical and political backgrounds, and the progress from the reforms in the last three decades. It also presents the three paradigmatic models of reform and their evolution, as well as the contrasts between universal coverage and universal systems. Finally, it presents current strengths and weaknesses of the twelve South American health systems as well as current opportunities and challenges in health for UNASUR.