Implementing the human right to food in Brazil

Despite the recent progress, a large share of the population still lives in a situation of poverty. Brazil still has one of the highest Gini coefficients in the world, as a result of a historic process of economic growth with inequitable distribution of income and opportunities. Given this context, overcoming the serious and interrelated problems of poverty and inequality in Brazil requires a sustained and integrated effort from all levels of government and also from civil society.

The Zero Hunger strategy (Fome Zero), which coordinates programs from 11 ministries, in partnership with civil society, plays a fundamental role in improving the living conditions of the population. It also contributes to the introduction of the food and nutrition security element to the public policies agenda, both in Brazil and abroad.

We have implemented integrated actions concerning the human right to adequate food. These in turn provide the foundations for the Zero Hunger strategy, in order to ensure the production, availability and regular access to high quality food for everyone. We have also invested in strategies for impact evaluation of food and nutrition security policies and programs. One important step was the creation in 2004 of a baseline measuring the various levels of food insecurity in Brazil, based on the Brazilian Scale of Food Insecurity (EBIA). This will allow subsequent impact evaluations of Brazilian food and nutrition security policies (SAGI/MDS 2007).

Another important step to ensure the human right to adequate food in Brazil was the introduction of a Federal Law for Food and Nutrition Security – Law No. 11346, from September 15, 2006. This created the National System for Food and Nutrition Security which aims to integrate initiatives within this area. This law grants the status of public policy to food and nutrition security, thus requiring the State to enforce the universal right to regular and permanent access to good quality food in sufficient quantities, based on healthy food practices which respect cultural diversity and which are environmentally, culturally, socially and economically sustainable.

The Brazilian policy on food and nutrition security is monitored by the National Council on Food and Nutrition Security – CONSEA, which congregates 18 State Ministers and 36 representatives of civil society, and is directly linked to the Presidency of the Republic.

The policy implementation includes strategies for: strengthening family agriculture through financing, technical assistance and purchase guarantees; local initiatives to allow for access to food and water (subsidized restaurants, food banks, community kitchens, cisterns) and strategies directed towards school meals and the promotion of healthy food habits.

The cornerstone program for the promotion of food and nutrition security is the Bolsa Familia Program, which benefits 11 million poor families. In return for a cash transfer, which allows for food purchases and some immediate relief of the difficulties created by poverty, families must keep their children in school, giving them the opportunity to break the intergenerational poverty cycle. They also must comply with an agenda for health monitoring, which includes vaccination, prenatal care and nutritional monitoring of pregnant and lactating women and children under 7 years old, thus ensuring their basic rights to health access.

Bolsa Familia introduces an intersectoral approach, which is key to the social development debate, since there is a strong interdependence among all public actions directed to citizens living in poverty. In this sense, food and nutrition security policy must work in an articulated and synergetic manner with other policies on social assistance, health, education, and labor, thereby adding more effectiveness to the resources invested.

Taking into consideration the intersectoral approach to public policy, the Brazilian Government has promoted various actions which have resulted in the improvement of the nutritional indicators of pregnant women and children. In this sense, the Family Health Strategy is worthy of mention, and has benefited more than 93 million people as of February 2008 (a sheer half of the Brazilian population).

Moreover, the Food and Nutrition Surveillance System – SISVAN - allows for continuous access to information about the food and nutritional status of the population and the factors that influence it. It is used to monitor the Bolsa Familia Program beneficiaries, including more than 3 million children during the second semester of 2007.

Another fundamental action carried out to ensure adequate nutrition has been the distribution of essential micronutrients, such as iron and vitamin A, as part of the basic health assistance.

As a result of these various programs and initiatives, both child malnutrition and mortality rates have dropped. Brazil has showed great progress in lowering the child mortality rate, which dropped from 47 per thousand live births in 1990, to 25 in 2006 – a 45% drop. Among children between 1 and 2 years old, malnutrition has fallen from 20% to 5%, which represents a reduction of 75% in seven years (UNICEF 2008).

Between 2002 and 2007, the rates of hospitalization due to malnutrition and nutritional insufficiency fell in every region of Brazil. The average reduction in Brazil was 35%, reaching as high as 44% in the Northeast region, according to administrative data from Ministry of Health.

Such improvement may be partly attributed to the reorganization of the primary care system by means of the Family Health Strategy, which focuses on the family in its physical and social environment in an integral and continuous manner, developing actions for health promotion and disease prevention. An important impact of the Family Health Strategy is observed in the health of children: studies show that a 10% raise in its coverage is associated with in a 4.6% reduction in the child death rate (Macinko et al 2006).

Research also shows a significant contribution given by the Bolsa Familia Program to the food and nutrition security of families; particularly their children. According to a study with beneficiaries, 93% of children and 82% of the adult beneficiaries eat three or more meals a day (Silva et al 2007). Research regarding the nutritional status of the population living in the Northeastern semi-arid region – one of the poorest regions in Brazil – has showed a strong reduction in the malnutrition rate, which dropped from 17.9% in 1996 to 6.6% in 2005. The role played by social programs in the improvement of the nutritional conditions of the poorest population was clear: for children under 5 years old, the research predicts that participation in the Bolsa Familia Program would be associated with a 30% reduction in the occurrence of height for age deficits – indicating a corresponding reduction in the prevalence of chronic malnutrition. The malnutrition rates would be 6.8% among children that did not receive the program and 4.8% for children that received the program. When the focus of the analysis is on the range between 6 and 11 months of age, the reduction in the prevalence of malnutrition due to the programme would be even greater: 62% (from 5.3% to 2.0%) (Santos et al 2007).

This context indicates clear progress in food and nutrition security in Brazil. Nevertheless, it is necessary todevelop the policies and programs even further, strengthening the focus upon families and upon specific territories, and to pursue the goals of universal social protection and promotion and the guarantee of food and nutrition security. Universal social rights in Brazil require more investment in regions where economic activity is less intense, and also for families and individuals in situations of greater vulnerability. It is also necessary to improve management practices of social policies through a stronger coordination among their elements, to define clear goals, and to strive towards transparency, accountability and continuous impact evaluation of the programs.

The current models for socio-economic development have been limited in environmental and social terms. The risks of environmental changes and global warming can negatively affect the current social situation, furthering inequalities worldwide.

It is necessary to rethink the current development models, given the high levels of inequality that still persist in spite of poverty reduction between 1990 and 2004. Around the world, 800 million people still suffer from hunger. Among those, 170 million are children under 5 years old. More than 500,000 women around the world still die each year due to complications during pregnancy and delivery that could be easily avoided or treated. And half of the population in the developing world still doesn’t have access to basic sanitation.

President Lula has given priority to a development model with income redistribution and social inclusion and has committed his administration to a solidarity effort towards the reduction of hunger and malnutrition in the world. We consider this to be a challenge to be overcome by the entirety of humankind, and it will only be possible with cooperation and commitment from governments, multilateral organisms and actors in international civil society.

In that sense, we have maintained an intense cooperation with international organizations and governments of other countries, giving and receiving technical cooperation. There is still a lot to learn, but we have already gathered various experiences that we consider to be worthy of being shared with our partner nations. We are continuously working in cooperative projects with multilateral organisms, and with development organs of the governments of Latin American and African countries as well as in other regions.

The conclusions and propositions from the 35th Session of the UN Standing Committee on Nutrition have a key role, because they help to define strategies for large-scale implementation of necessary interventions designed to reduce maternal and child malnutrition. In doing this, important steps are taken towards a more equitable and fraternal world, gathered around the promotion of the highest human values.

Brasil, Presidência da República 2007. Objetivos de Desenvolvimento do Milênio. Relatório Nacional de Acompanhamento. Brasília.

Macinko J, Guanais FC, Souza MFM 2006. "Evaluation of the impact of the Family Health Program on infant mortality in Brazil, 1990-2002." J Epidemiol Community Health 60:13-9.

Maternal and Child Undernutrition Study Group 2008. "Maternal and child undernutrition." The Lancet 371(9608-12).

Neri, MC 2007. Miséria, Desigualdade e Políticas de Renda: O Real do Lula. FGV/IBRE, CPS:Rio de Janeiro.

SAGI/MDS 2007. Avaliação de Políticas e Programas do MDS – Resultados. Volume 1 – Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional. Brasília.

UNDP 2007. Human Development Report 2007/2008. Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world. (http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2007-2008/).

United Nations Development Program.  2007. Relatório de Desenvolvimento Humano  2007-2008. Combater a mudança do clima: solidariedade humana em um mundo dividido. Programa das Nações

Santos L, Paes-Sousa R, Soares M, Henrique F, Pereira L, Batista Fiho M, Martins M, Alcântara L, Monteiro C, Conde W and Konno S 2007. Perfil nutricional de crianças menores de cinco anos no semi-árido brasileiro. In Vaitsman J and Paes-Sousa R (eds.) Avaliação de políticas e programas do MDS – resultados. Volume I Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional. SAGI/MDS:Brasília.

Silva M, Assis A, Santana M, Pinheiro S, Santos N and Brito E 2007. Programa Bolsa Família e segurança alimentar das famílias beneficiárias: resultaos para o Brasil e regiões. In Vaitsman J and Paes-Sousa R (eds.) Avaliação de políticas e programas do MDS – resultados. Volume II Bolsa Família e Assistência Social. SAGI/MDS:Brasília.