The Management (or Lack Thereof) of COVID-19 in Brazil: Implications for Human Rights and Public Health

Forthcoming in International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare, DOI: 10.1108/IJHRH-09-2020-0085.

24 Pages Posted: 26 May 2020 Last revised: 26 Oct 2020

See all articles by Erick da Luz Scherf

Erick da Luz Scherf

University of Alabama - School of Social Work

Marcos Vinicius Viana da Silva

Independent

Janaína S. F.

UNIVALI; UNIVALI

Date Written: September 24, 2020

Abstract

Purpose: The objective of this article is to explore how the COVID-19 pandemic has been managed in Brazil, especially at the Federal Administrative level, with the focus being on the implications for human rights and public health in the country.

Methodology: The research is built on a qualitative design made up of case-study and review of the literature and is based on inductive reasoning.

Findings: Main conclusions were that: (i) by not making sufficient efforts to safeguard the lives of Brazilians or to strengthen public health institutions amid the pandemic, Bolsonaro’s Administration may be violating the rights to life and health, among others, by omission; (ii) it was demonstrated that the President has worked unceasingly to bulldoze anti-COVID-19 efforts, which can be better explained through the concepts of necropolitics and neoliberal authoritarianism.

Research limitations/implications: One of the limitations to this research is that we were not able to discuss more thoroughly which other human rights norms and principles (apart from the right to health, life and the duty to protect vulnerable populations) have possibly been violated amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Overall, this research can help expand the literature on human rights in health management during and after emergency times.

Originality: This paper focuses on recent events and on urgent matters that need to be addressed immediately in Brazil. We provide an innovative health policy/human rights analysis in order to build an academic account of the ongoing pandemic in the largest country in South America.

Keywords: COVID-19, Pandemic, Brazil, Human rights, Public health

Suggested Citation

da Luz Scherf, Erick and da Silva, Marcos Vinicius Viana and Sortica Fachini, Janaína, The Management (or Lack Thereof) of COVID-19 in Brazil: Implications for Human Rights and Public Health (September 24, 2020). Forthcoming in International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare, DOI: 10.1108/IJHRH-09-2020-0085., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3609303 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3609303

Erick Da Luz Scherf (Contact Author)

University of Alabama - School of Social Work ( email )

Tuscaloosa, AL
United States

Janaína Sortica Fachini

UNIVALI ( email )

Campus IV - Biguacu
Santa Catarina 88160000
United States

UNIVALI ( email )

Campus IV - Biguacu
Santa Catarina 88160000
United States

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