The right to health and the Federal Public Defender Office

Abstract

Although the right to health is guaranteed by the 1988 Constitution, it is one of Brazil’s main challenges for attaining the social rights of its citizens. This fact becomes even more serious for poor population, the target audience of the Federal Public Defender Office. The judicialization of health has been set up on an important access to the right to health of citizens, given the failure of Brazilian public policies in the sector. However, beyond the emergency situation, it has also managed to improve the performance of the executive mechanisms, which now considers that the judicialization for the planning and execution of public policy in the area. This article presents a brief literature review on the subject and a statistical summary of claims related to Health and Drugs in the Federal Public Defender Office in the State of Rio de Janeiro in 2011. The aim was to identify the main claims related to health and medicine and raise important points for planning and acting strategically in the area.