Food and Nutrition Surveillance for indigenous peoples in Brazil: analysis of the construction of a public health politics

Abstract

The implementation of a food and nutrition surveillance system (Sisvan) aimed at indigenous communities in Brazil was first proposed in 2003 and since then has relied on funds provided by the Brazilian federal government and the World Bank. This study aimed to examine the conditions and factors which led the managers of the indigenous health subsystem to recognize the nutritional deficits of indigenous peoples as a relevant public health problem and the reasons why Sisvan was chosen as an alternative. This is a qualitative study based on analytical perspective of John Kingdon (1984), which focuses on the early stages of the policy cycle, namely: the setting of a political agenda and the specifications of alternatives from which a choice for solution is made. The results show that the convergence of a flow of critical situations related to the nutritional status of indigenous peoples coupled with a favorable political stream opened a "window of opportunity". This led to the situation of nutritional insecurity of these people to be recognized as a problem and become relevant in the government decision agenda. Sisvan, which was an internationally recognized alternative and which had been implemented into the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) since the 1990s, was chosen. The Sisvan for indigenous peoples became a full component of the indigenous health system in 2006.