Healthy Brazil: a multisectoral strategy for tackling neglected diseases and promoting health equity

Health inequities remain a defining challenge of the 21st century, disproportionately burdening marginalized populations with diseases long eradicated in high-income settings. In Brazil, where socioeconomic disparities intersect with vast geographic and climatic diversity, diseases such as Chagas disease, leprosy, and malaria persist as markers of structural neglect—particularly in Indigenous communities, slum dwellers, and those trapped in cycles of poverty. A notable success in tackling these issues has been achieved through the Bolsa Família program, which was launched in 2003.