The anti-poverty agenda has been at the heart of the World Bank's discourse in recent decades. Social policies started to be identified as strategic for combating poverty and promoting development in poor countries. We analyzed the health policy recommendations made by the World Bank to Brazil in the Lula da Silva and Rousseff administrations from 2003 to 2014. Document analysis was used to explore the partnership contracts between the World Bank and Brazil, projects financed by the World Bank in Brazil, and the document “20 Years of Construction of the Health System in Brazil: An Analysis of the Unified Health System.” Content analysis of documents show that there was a predominance of projects focusing on reducing poverty, while social policies occupied a secondary place in the agenda. The World Bank approached states and municipalities expanding the spread of its state reform agenda, in addition to reinterpreting the structural framework of the Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS). We conclude that the Bank acted to limit the original principles of the SUS in favor of hegemonic interests of the current phase of capitalist accumulation.
RizzottoMLF. The World Bank and health policies in the 90s: a SUS dismantling project [theses]. Graduate Program of the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the State University of Campinas; 2000.
2.
UgaVD. The social issue as “poverty”: critique of the neoliberal conceptualization [thesis]. Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Universitário de Pesquisas do Rio de Janeiro; 2008.
3.
PereiraJMM. Assaulting poverty: Politics and economic doctrine in world bank history (1944-2014). Rev. Hist. 2016;174:235–265.
4.
LaurellAC. State and social policies in neoliberalism, 3. Ed. In: Moving Towards the Past: The Social Policy of Neoliberalism. Cortez/Cedec; 2002:151–178.
5.
RizzottoMLFCamposGWS. The world bank and the Brazilian unified health system at the beginning of the XXI century. Health Social. 2016;25(2):263–276.
6.
PereiraJMM. World bank, state reform and adjustment of social policies in Latin America. Science Collective Health. 2018;23(7):2187–2196.
7.
LichtenszteynSBaerM. International Monetary Fund and World Bank: Strategies and Policies of the Financial Power. editora brasiliense; 1987.
8.
PereiraJMM. The world bank and the political-intellectual construction of the “combat against poverty”. Topoi (Dordr).2010;11(21):260–282.
9.
VilasCM. The world bank and state reform in Latin America: Theoretical foundations and policy prescriptions. In: PereiraJMMPronkoM, coordinators. Demolition of Rights: A Review of World Bank Policies for Education and Health: 1980-2013. Escola Politécnica de Saúde Joaquim Venâncio; 2014:65–85.
10.
BerhingERBosquettiIC. Social Policies: Fundamentals and History. Cortez; 2008.
11.
Bresser-PereiraLC. The 1995 management state reform. Journal of Public Administration. 2000;34(4):7–26.
12.
BerhingER. Brazil in counter-reform: state disruption and loss of rights. Cortez; 2003.
13.
AndersonP. O brasil de lula. Novos Estud CEBRAP.2011;(91):23–52.
14.
MoraisLSaad-FilhoA. Da economia política à política econômica: O novo-desenvolvimentismo e o governo lula. Brazil J Polit Econ. 2011;31(4):507–527.
15.
TeixeiraRAPintoEC. A economia política dos governos FHC, Lula e Dilma: Dominância financeira, bloco no poder e desenvolvimento econômico. Econ soc. 2012;21(spe):909–941.
16.
LimaLdFonsecaPCD. INTERPRETAÇÕES DA POLÍTICA ECONÔMICA NOS GOVERNOS LULA E ROUSSEFF. RAE. 2021;39(79).
17.
MarquesRMXimenesSBUginoCK. Governos Lula e Dilma em matéria de seguridade social e acesso à educação superior. Brazil J Polit Econ. 2018;38(3):526–547.
18.
MendesAMarquesRM. SUS Financing under the “winds” of financialization. Science Public Health. 2009;14(3):841–850.
19.
BahiaL. Thirty years of the unified health system (SUS): A necessary but insufficient transition. Cad. Saúde Pública. 2020;34(7):e00067218.
20.
MinayoMC. The Challenge of Knowledge: Qualitative Health Research. 13. ed. Revised and improved. Hucitec; 2014.
21.
LüdkeMAndréMEDA. Education research: qualitative approaches. EPU; 1986, Data collection methods: observation, interview and document analysis; P. 25–44.
KrugerTR. SUS: From the loss of democratic radicalism to the new developmentalism. Rev. Katálysis. 2014;17(2):218–226.
24.
Banco Mundial. A more just, sustainable and competitive Brazil: assistance strategy for the country, 2004-2007. Report No. 36116-BR. Brasilia; 2003.
25.
World Bank. Country partnership strategy for the Federative Republic of Brazil: fiscal years 2008 to 2011. Report No. 42677-BR. Washington; 2008.
26.
World Bank. Country partnership strategy for the Federative Republic of Brazil: fiscal years 2012 to 2015. Report No. 63731-BR. Washington; 2011.
27.
HarveyD. The Postmodern Condition. 21. ed. Loyola; 2011.
28.
PerezIE. The evolution of conceptions regarding development in the world bank and its incidence in Latin America: An overview. Nicolaita Magazine of Economic Studies. 2009;IV(1):111–140.
29.
DruckGFilgueirasL. Focused social policy and fiscal adjustment: The two faces of the Lula government. katálysis. 2007;10(1):24–34.
30.
PereiraJMM. The world bank’s assistance strategies for Brazil in a political perspective (1990-2020). Tempo e Argumento. 2022;14(37):e0301.
31.
MilkIC. Needy, incapable, not subject: The conception of poor(za) formulated by the world bank. In: ArzateSJ, coordinator. Poverty as a Scientific, Ideological and Political Construction: Four Essays from Latin America. Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México/Red Iberoamericana for the Study of Social Policies; 2015:27–49.
32.
SenA. Development as Freedom. Companhia das Letras; 2000, The perspective of freedom; p.27–50.
33.
NavarroV. Development and quality of life: A critique of Amartya Sen’s development as freedom. Int J Health Serv. 2000;30(4):661–674.
34.
GonçalvesR. The World Bank in Brazil: from War of Movement to War of Position - Analysis of the document Strategy for Partnership with Brazil, 2008-2011. Rede Brasil; 2009.
PaimJ. Unified health system (SUS) at 30 years of age. Ciênc. Saúde Colectiva [Online]. 2018;23(6):1723–1728.
38.
RizzottoMLFCamposGWS. The world bank and the Brazilian unified health system at the beginning of the XXI century. Saude soc. 2016;25(2):263–276.
39.
GragnolatiMGLindelowMCouttolencB. 20 years of construction of the health system in Brazil: an analysis of the Unified Health System. The World Bank; 2013.
40.
SesteloJAFCardosoAMBragaIFMattosLVAndriettaLS. The financing of social and health policies in Brazil in the 21st century: Elements for an initial approach. Economic soc. 2017;26:1097–1126.
41.
NoronhaJC. Universal health coverage: How to mix concepts, confuse goals, abandon principles. Cad. Public Health [Internet]. 2013;29(5):847–849.
42.
BirnANerviLSiqueiraE. Neoliberalism redux: The global health policy agenda and the politics of cooptation in Latin America and beyond. Dev Change.2016;47:734–759.
43.
GiovanellaLMendoza-RuizAPilarACA, et al.Universal health system and universal coverage: Unraveling assumptions and strategies. Public Health Science [Internet]. 2018;23(6):1763–1776.
44.
SousaMFMerchán-HamannE. Family health in Brazil: A strategy to overcome inequality in health?Physis. 2009;19(3):711–729.
45.
CohnA. The SUS and the right to health: Universalization and focus on health policies. In: NT file; GerschmanSEdlerFCManuel SuárezJ (eds). Health and Democracy: History and Perspectives of the SUS. FIOCRUZ; 2006:385–405.
