The Lancet
Jun 27, 2009   Volume 373  Number 9682  Pages 2171 – 2258
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/issue/current

Judicialisation of the right to health in Brazil
João Biehl, Adriana Petryna, Alex Gertner, Joseph J Amon, Paulo D Picon

Preview
Across Brazil, patients are turning to courts to access prescribed drugs. Brazil is one of at least 115 countries that recognise a constitutional right to health.1 An important part of this right is access to pharmaceutical drugs.2 Although Brazil has the developing world’s most advanced HIV/AIDS programme, many of its citizens still go to local pharmacies only to find that essential medicines are out of stock. Brazil is also one of the fastest growing pharmaceutical markets in the world. Doctors increasingly prescribe and patients demand new drugs, some of questionable benefit.