SUS and Climate Change: Brazil Can Make Health a Global Example - BRAZIL. OPINION - November 3, 2025
- Ana Cunha-Busch
- Nov 2, 2025
- 2 min read
SUS and Climate Change: Brazil Can Make Health a Global Example BRAZIL. OPINION
The announcement that Brazil will present, during COP 30 in Belém, the Belém Health Action Plan, inspired by the Unified Health System (SUS), represents a remarkable advance in the integration between public health and climate change. The country, which for decades has been building one of the most comprehensive primary care systems in the world, now seeks to project this experience on a global scale, recognizing that climate change is also a health crisis.
Rising temperatures, floods, the proliferation of disease vectors, and water scarcity already directly affect the lives and health of millions of Brazilians, especially the most vulnerable populations. The new plan recognizes this reality and proposes concrete ways to prepare health systems to face these impacts, through surveillance, evidence-based policies, and sustainable innovation. This perspective places Brazil at the forefront of discussions on climate justice and health equity, two inseparable themes when it comes to adaptation and resilience.
However, despite the optimism that the proposal evokes, there are significant challenges. Implementation will depend on consistent funding, real integration between the environmental and health sectors, and, above all, political continuity. It is not enough to present an ambitious plan; it is necessary to ensure that it reaches communities, strengthening health units, training professionals, and adapting strategies to the specificities of each territory, from the semi-arid region to the heart of the Amazon.
Brazil has the potential to become a global reference by proving that a public health system can also be a powerful tool for mitigating and adapting to climate change. But this recognition will only come if the plan leaves the drawing board and transforms into concrete, measurable, and transparent actions. After all, human health is a direct reflection of the planet's health, and protecting one is inevitably caring for the other.
“SUS on the front line of climate adaptation”. Photo: Igor Evangelista/MS - MMA
Author: Bianca Vieira
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