Popular Health Surveillance in Brazil
Categories: Action Line 2: Evidence-based policy strategy and capacity building, Social participation, Health equity and climate justice, Assessments of climate and health risks and GHG emissions, Climate-transformative leadership and governance, Health and climate research, Management of environmental determinants of health, Drought, Floods, Health systems wide resilience
Country: Brazil
Organizations: Fiocruz
The intervention
In Brazil, Popular Health Surveillance was developed as a participatory strategy to strengthen health governance amid climate emergencies such as floods and droughts. Through an emancipatory action research, Indigenous Peoples from the northeast, peasant movements in the south, representatives of the Unified Health System (SUS), and academia co-created the Guide for Popular Health Surveillance in the Face of Climate Emergencies. This approach integrates traditional knowledge, community practices, and technical expertise to promote collective ownership of health monitoring, empowering communities to defend health and life in climate-vulnerable territories.
This work received financial support from the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research. The Alliance is able to conduct its work thanks to the commitment and support from a variety of funders. These include our long-term support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), as well as designated funding for specific projects within our current priorities. For the full list of Alliance donors, please click here.
Success factors
The success of Popular Health Surveillance stems from deep community engagement and the integration of traditional, scientific, and institutional knowledge. Co-creation through workshops enabled shared learning and mutual respect between local communities, academia, and public health authorities. This inclusive process built trust, strengthened local capacity, and enhanced the legitimacy of climate and health interventions. The focus on emancipatory participation - where communities retain control over data collection and analysis - ensured that surveillance addressed local priorities and realities, making it a transformative model for participatory health governance in the context of climate change.
Recommendations
Effective replication of this intervention requires choosing participatory methodologies that empower those involved, valuing their lived experience during problem identification and solution design. Processes such as workshops, dialogue circles, mapping, and participatory monitoring enhance community agency. Communities should lead data collection, analysis, and decision-making to enhance ownership, accountability, and equity. Institutionalising popular surveillance within public health systems - while protecting autonomy and local authorship - ensures sustainability and strengthens resilience across vulnerable territories facing climate emergencies.
Key resources
- Participation in Health and Ecology of Knowledge
- For the full list of Alliance donors, please click here
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