Cancer in Ceará: shaping a medical and social problem, 1940-1954. / O câncer no Ceará: a conformação de um problema médico-social, 1940-1954.

This article addresses the shaping of cancer as a relevant medical and social problem in the Brazilian state of Ceará from 1940 to 1954. While this disease initially garnered little importance on the local medical and health agenda, and was considered a problem for philanthropy, a group of physicians and allies brought cancer to the public health agenda and led to the Campaign Against Cancer in 1954. This group's ability to unite internal and external allies with a broader reach portrayed cancer as a relevant medical and social problem in Ceará. We demonstrate this new portrayal in medical articles, institutional documents, biographies, newspapers, and other documents produced on and by the characters involved with anticancer activities in Ceará.

Pensar o Sistema Único de Saúde do século XXI: entrevista com Lígia Bahia / Considerations on the Sistema Único de Saúde in the twenty-first century: an interview with Lígia Bahia

A entrevista com Lígia Bahia aborda balanços feitos sobre os 25 anos do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) e analisa seus avanços,impasses e descaminhos. A entrevistada posiciona-se criticamente em relação a duas vertentes atuais do SUS, a que o vê como sistema que visa à equidade, e a que enxerga a igualdade como seu objetivo. Critica as ambivalências em decisões de várias esferas do governo em relação a randes grupos empresariais e a planos privados de saúde, antagônicos aos ideais do SUS. Avalia a participação dos médicos e de outras profissões de saúde no Sistema. Analisa ainda a emergência de políticas identitárias, ausentes na formulação do projeto da reforma sanitária, cuja ênfase era a igualdade.

This interview with Lígia Bahia explores evaluations of the first 25 years of Brazil’s Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) and analyzes the project’s progress, impasses, and missteps. Bahia is critical of both tendencies currently found within SUS: the one that sees the system as aimed at equity and the other posing equality as its goal. She criticizes the ambivalence that various spheres of government have displayed in their decisions regarding large corporate groups and private health insurance plans, which conflict with the ideas of SUS. She evaluates the participation of doctors and other healthcare professionals in the system. Lastly, she analyzes the emergence of identity politics, which are missing from the public health reform project, whose emphasis was on equality.