WHO warns that Brazil spends too little on healthcare.

Sputnik - The World Health Organization (WHO) released a report revealing that Brazil invests less in healthcare than its neighboring and European countries. Sputnik Brazil consulted a public health physician on the matter, who pointed out how this situation exacerbates the COVID-19 pandemic.

WHO data indicates that of the organization's 193 member countries, 81 spend more on health than Brazil, proportionally to their public budget. In 2017, Brazil spent 10,3% of its public budget on health, below the average for countries in the Americas (13,2%) and also for Europe (12,3%).

The pandemic has revealed the weakness of the public health system in several countries, and a debate has already begun regarding the strengthening of health systems worldwide. This is what public health physician Gonzalo Vecina Neto, professor at the Faculty of Public Health of the University of São Paulo (USP) and one of the founders of Anvisa, points out.

"All countries in the world in the last 15-20 years, after the 2008 crisis, have experienced a reduction in their social investments. All these countries, in some way, prioritized what is called fiscal balance. And to achieve fiscal balance, they reduced their investments in the social area, particularly in the area of ​​health. The bill is coming due now with the coronavirus epidemic," says the public health physician in an interview with Sputnik Brazil.

Vecina Neto points out that cuts in public investment in health also occurred in Brazil, following the same international trend.

"We are spending very little on healthcare, that's an undeniable reality. Compare it however you want. The rest is hypocrisy and lies," he states.

The doctor points out that Brazil invests less in health than its neighboring countries in relation to GDP, as indicated by the WHO, but adds that the country also has different characteristics that should be highlighted, both in terms of investment and in relation to the pandemic.

"First of all, it's the size. Uruguay has four million inhabitants, Paraguay has 6 million, Argentina has 38 million, Chile has 18 million inhabitants. This disease is one that needs people to spread. The more people you have, the more it spreads," points out Vecina Neto.

Brazilian social inequality is another difference highlighted by the physician who founded Anvisa, in relation to neighboring countries.

"The other difference is that we have much greater social inequalities than our neighbors. Perhaps Paraguay is a little closer to our reality. But the concentration of income in Brazil is a stupid thing. We are one of the countries with the highest concentration of income," he points out.

Vecina Neto explains that Brazil's social inequalities have direct consequences for health and also for the pandemic.

"And income concentration implies poverty; we have many poor people. This disease kills more poor people, in fact, that's already happening here. When we look at mortality rates in São Paulo, the mortality has shifted to the periphery. This disease started in the upper echelons and will end in the basement, in the country's underbelly," says the doctor, emphasizing that this situation causes Black people to die progressively more from the disease than white people in Brazil.

The Brazilian budget in 2020 reached R$ 3,8 trillion, of which R$ 125 billion was allocated to the health sector. According to Vecina Neto, a good measure that could be revived to increase spending in the sector is the proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 29, which defines a minimum expenditure on health.

"We have a lot to pay to Brazilian society to have a better healthcare system that treats all citizens equally. But for that, we have to improve our financing capacity and, above all, we also have to improve management. This is the movement we have to make in the post-COVID era; it's the future. But we all have to know that we have to build this future, otherwise we won't build this future," he concludes.