The Lancet  
May 28, 2011  Volume 377  Number 9780  Pages 1807 – 1890
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/issue/current

Series
Maternal and child health in Brazil: progress and challenges
Cesar G Victora, Estela ML Aquino, Maria do Carmo Leal, Carlos Augusto Monteiro, Fernando C Barros, Celia L Szwarcwald

Preview
In the past three decades, Brazil has undergone rapid changes in major social determinants of health and in the organisation of health services. In this report, we examine how these changes have affected indicators of maternal health, child health, and child nutrition. We use data from vital statistics, population censuses, demographic and health surveys, and published reports. In the past three decades, infant mortality rates have reduced substantially, decreasing by 5·5% a year in the 1980s and 1990s, and by 4·4% a year since 2000 to reach 20 deaths per 1000 live births in 2008.

Successes and failures in the control of infectious diseases in Brazil: social and environmental context, policies, interventions, and research needs
Mauricio L Barreto, M Gloria Teixeira, Francisco I Bastos, Ricardo AA Ximenes, Rita B Barata, Laura C Rodrigues

Summary
Despite pronounced reductions in the number of deaths due to infectious diseases over the past six decades, infectious diseases are still a public health problem in Brazil. In this report, we discuss the major successes and failures in the control of infectious diseases in Brazil, and identify research needs and policies to further improve control or interrupt transmission. Control of diseases such as cholera, Chagas disease, and those preventable by vaccination has been successful through efficient public policies and concerted efforts from different levels of government and civil society. For these diseases, policies dealt with key determinants (eg, the quality of water and basic sanitation, vector control), provided access to preventive resources (such as vaccines), and successfully integrated health policies with broader social policies. Diseases for which control has failed (such as dengue fever and visceral leishmaniasis) are vector-borne diseases with changing epidemiological profiles and major difficulties in treatment (in the case of dengue fever, no treatment is available). Diseases for which control has been partly successful have complex transmission patterns related to adverse environmental, social, economic, or unknown determinants; are sometimes transmitted by insect vectors that are difficult to control; and are mostly chronic diseases with long infectious periods that require lengthy periods of treatment.