Inequalities in Health and Education in Brazil

Introduction

Populace well-being measures have been increasingly used by the scientific community, international communities, and policymakers to measure the degree of development in countries. Such initiatives derive from the knowledge that the GDP and income, while important indicators in their own right, are insufficient to measure citizens’ quality of life. The trajectory of the relevant dimensions regarding individual well-being such as health, education, and urban conditions, then, would not be a direct sub-product from income and national wealth; on the contrary, they would be affected by the course of public policies. 

A large portion of these indicators, however, are national in scope, which prevents us from measuring the countries’ internal inequalities. The Health and Education Performance Indexes in Brazil maps territorial inequalities in health and education quality in Brazil. Its main objective is to provide broad and disaggregated measures regarding health and education conditions in Brazil.
The study allows us to observe qualitatively distinct dimensions regarding health (eight) and education (ten) conditions in each Brazilian municipality for the 2000 and 2010 decades. The information allows us to compare how each municipality performs when compared to others in a wide set of dimensions for each of these policies. The study also allows us to evaluate the trajectory of each indicator in each municipality throughout the decade. 
The results from this work consolidate progresses and, as a model, it offers a panel for accompaniment, evaluation and control regarding the performance of two central policies for citizen well-being. It also renews the commitment that the Center for Metropolitan Studies (CEM) has with society in regards with the transmission of knowledge, in ways of new technologies, indicators or methodologies, subsidizing the social and the political processes which involve public policies.
 

Contents

1. The Evaluation Model

1.1 Selected indicators for the evaluation model results

PART II METHODOLOGICAL APPENDIX

1. Concepts and indicator calculation method

2. Standardization of Indicators

PARTE III STATISTICAL APPENDIX

Staff

Marta Arretche – Coordination

Sandra Gomes Vaughan – Researcher

Edgard Fusaro – Statistician

Ximena I. León Contrera e Said Bichara - Web and translation

Notice:

This study was updated on the website on 10/19/2016

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