The Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade, said this Friday (17th), in Rio de Janeiro, that it is necessary to discuss the financing of the Unified Health System (SUS). For her, the issue is important to ensure the realization of the right of the entire population to health.
“Per capita spending by the private initiative is four times higher than per capita public spending by the Unified Health System (SUS). This fact becomes more acute with the lessons learned from the pandemic, in which the very role of the system was so positively addressed”, he said, during an event at the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV).
“We have a universal health system with a funding problem and the challenges of facing a demographic and epidemiological transition”.
The minister said that it is also important to have continuous investments in science, technology and innovation in health.
“Around the world, there has been a lot of talk that vaccines [contra a covid-19] were developed in record time. In fact, if there were no previous investments [não haveria essas vacinas]. The case of the University of Oxford [que produziu a vacina com o laboratório AstraZeneca] it was the result of continuous ten-year investments in the development of vaccines”, he explained.
For Nísia Trindade, it is necessary for scientists to change the way they communicate with people, in order to reduce the mistrust that parts of the population have in relation to science.
“There is a need to change the very way we communicate science. Science is not a matter of opinion. It is a matter of construction based on evidence and consensus among peers [cientistas]. This is fundamental to the relationship between health and democracy. We rely on scientific evidence but we need to build collectively.”
