Health Equity in Brazil: Intersections of Gender, Race, and Policy

243 Pages·2017·4.506 MB·English

by  Kia Lilly Caldwell

Health Equity in Brazil

Health Equity
in Brazil
Intersections of Gender,
Race, and Policy
Kia LiLLy CaLdweLL
© 2017 by the Board of Trustees
of the University of Illinois
All rights reserved
1 2 3 4 5 c p 5 4 3 2 1
∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Caldwell, Kia Lilly, 1971– author.
Title: Health equity in Brazil : intersections of gender, race, and
policy / Kia Lilly Caldwell.
Description: Urbana : University of Illinois Press, [2017] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: lccn 2016058967 (print) | lccn 2016059477
(ebook) | isbn 9780252040986 (hardback : alk. paper)
| isbn 9780252082474 (paperback : alk. paper) | isbn
9780252099533 (e-book)
Subjects: | MESH: Health Equity—history | African
Continental Ancestry Group | Health Policy—history
| Racism | Sexism | Socioeconomic Factors—history |
Women’s Health | History, 20th Century | History, 21st
Century | Brazil
Classification: lcc ra448.4 (print) | lcc ra448.4 (ebook) |
nlm w 76 db8 | ddc 362.108900981—dc23
lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016058967
This book is dedicated to the memory and lasting legacy
of my grandparents.

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
1 Feminist Dreams and Nightmares: The Struggle
for Gender Health Equity in Brazil 18
2 Black Women’s Health Activism and the Development
of Intersectional Health Policy 44
3 Mapping the Development of Health Policies
for the Black Population: From the Centenary
of Abolition to the Statute of Racial Equality 65
4 Strategies to Challenge Institutional Racism
and Color Blindness in the Health Sector 91
5 The Alyne Case: Maternal Mortality,
Intersectional Discrimination, and the Human Right
to Health in Brazil 114
6 Making Race and Gender Visible in Brazil’s
HIV/AIDS Epidemic: Policy, Advocacy, and Research 145
Conclusion 177
Notes 187
Bibliography 197
Index 217
Acknowledgments
This book, like most, has been a journey of both the mind and the heart. It has
also been a collective endeavor. I first want to thank my friends and colleagues
in Brazil who helped me learn more about health issues and challenges there.
Fátima Oliveira stands out as someone who has been extremely helpful since
I first visited Brazil in the 1990s. Her deep commitment to women’s health, re-
productive rights, and the health of the black population has inspired me and
provided an important model of feminist scholarship and advocacy over the
years. Maria Noelci Homero has also been an important friend and interlocutor
and I deeply cherish the insights she has shared with me. I also want to thank
Edna Araujo for her important work on racial health disparities in Brazil and
for being a wonderful collaborator. While numerous people have contributed
to this book in large and small ways, Maria Ines Barbosa, Fernanda Lopes,
Jurema Werneck, and Luis Eduardo Batista provided important models for
the analysis this book offers through their writings, activism, and advocacy.
Finally, my friends in Brazil have been a source of support and camaraderie as
I completed this project.
I have also been fortunate to have a number of friends and colleagues in
the United States who have provided support and encouragement as I wrote
this book. Michele Berger, Tanya Shields, Renya Ramirez, and Eunice Sahle
all formed part of a special group that provided intellectual and emotional sus-
tenance for me during critical times. I also want to thank Keisha-Khan Perry,