Constructing the right to health in Brazil

Abstract

The right to health has received - for the first time - constitutional treatment in Brazil in 1988, as a result of great popular participation. This study seeks to understand the scope of this statement and to verify its legal and jurisprudential implementation. From the study of the evolution of health and law concepts it concludes that the right to health must involve popular participation in order to be delineated. It also verifies that the regulatory framework is being built in accordance with the constitutional requirements. However, this work realizes that the judicial construction has been happening erratically and that the higher courts rarely face the discussion of the health policy designed in the Brazilian Constitution of 1988. The conclusion is that the statement of the right to health has demonstrated constitutional force, seeing the major legislative development in total coherence to its contemporary understanding and that the judicial control of the implementation of health policy is still nascent.