| |
| author |
Luiza Wadge Oliveira
| | title |
Treatment Disparities: Analyzing Variations in Healthcare Rates Across Brazil's Unified Health System (SUS)
| | abstract |
Brazil's Unified Health System (SUS) was established to provide equal access to
healthcare throughout the country. However, despite its universalist goals and national
promises, the system still shows significant regional inequalities. This study analyzes
the political, economic, and social factors that affect access to public healthcare,
focusing on cancer diagnosis rates as a way to measure healthcare availability. A
mixed-methods approach was employed, both quantitative and qualitative methods
were used to examine cancer diagnoses, healthcare spending, and poverty levels, along
with in-depth interviews to support the quantitative analysis. The results indicates that
even though SUS has been designed to offer universal healthcare, large disparities in
public investment and cancer diagnosis remain, especially in the North and Northeast
regions. These areas face lower healthcare funding, higher poverty rates, and fewer
cancer diagnoses, which all contribute to inequality, and a possible trend of
underdiagnosis in cancer cases. The findings highlight the urgent need to reform the
1988 SUS framework in order to reduce these regional healthcare gaps between its
primary economic centers and socioeconomically vulnerable regions.
| | school |
The College of Liberal Arts, Drew University
| | degree |
B.A. (2025)
|
| advisor |
Carlos Yordan
|
| full text | LWadgeOliveira.pdf |
| |
