In 2023, Juntos pela Saúde (Together for Health) Program was launched, an initiative of the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) managed by IDIS. Aimed at strengthening the public health system in the North and Northeast regions of Brazil, the Program supports projects that operate in places with coverage gaps, prioritizing municipalities with less than 1 doctor per 1,000 inhabitants. The financial support offered to these projects is based on the logic of matchfunding, a fundraising model that multiplies the donations raised.
For every real (Brazilian currency) donated by partner organizations, BNDES adds another R$1,00, doubling the amount that will be transferred to health projects. The goal is to have approximately R$ 200 million (equivalent to USD 40 million) by 2026. The supported projects undergo a validation process envolving specialists and a Validation Committee, in which the funders confirm the investment. In order to receive support, projects must focus on priority municipalities in the North and Northeast regions and aim to benefit public health actions and services within the Brazilian Unified Health System.
To learn more about the selection of new projects, click here.
On its first year, five supporters joined Together for Health – Dinamo Institute, RaiaDrogasil Group, Umane, Vale Foundation, and Wheaton. Over 2024, other organizatons shall join, to meet the fundraising goal (learn how to join here). Three wide-ranging also started to be implemented, and together they aim to reach nearly 300 municipalities, improving management and service processes, access to technological tools, infrastructure and training for professionals. Learn more about them:
HEALTH CYCLE SOCIAL PROTECTION
This initiative by Cedaps and Vale Foundation aims to contribute to strengthening the Basic Care, expanding the capacity for diagnosis, planning, operationalization, monitoring and evaluation of services through shared work plans with public management, guided by the health needs of local populations.
It is currently present in 8 municipalities in the state of Pará and, through the partnership with the Together for Health, will be expanded to 24 municipalities in the stated of Maranhão. Wheaton Precious Metals, BNDES and IDIS are also involved in this partnership.
By 2026, it is estimated that the project will reach 396 Basic Health Units (UBS), 55 Social Assistance Reference Centers (CRAS) and an average of 5,000 professionals, focusing on social protection and promoting the individual and collective health of the population,
“The Together for Health Fund helps to enhance social investment in territories that require special attention to access to quality healthcare. Through the partnership, we were able to take the Social Protection Health Cycle to 32 municipalities where we already work with education projects in Pará and Maranhão. In partnership with municipal departments, we hope to collaborate in a structured way to improve public services and benefit the entire population.” expresses Pâmella De-Cnop, Executive Director of the Vale Foundation.
IMPULSO PREVINE
The project created by the non-profit organization ImpulsoGov is a digital solution that centralizes data, analysis and recommendations from the Federal Primary Care funding program on a platform, providing a dashboard to health managers.
The solution allows, for example, monitoring the performance of cervical cancer preventive examinations, available free of charge in the Unified Health System (SUS). With it, local managers of the municipalities served will be able to improve their strategies to prevent the disease, which records 17 thousand new cases annually, according to 2023 data from INCA.
It is also worth highlighting that the Impulso Previne platform works with other Primary Health Care indicators and offers free support to municipalities, in order to contribute to better management and monitoring of the health situation of local populations.
With the financial support of Dynamo Institute, Impulso Previne will invest in the expansion of solutions focused on developing a cytopathological exam indicator and providing access to 19 municipalities.
The resources coming from Umane will be directed to the development of a vaccine indicator, covering 240 municipalities.
MENTAL HEALTH INDICATORS PANEL
Created by ImpulsoGov in partnership with the Cactus Institute, a non-profit organization that aims to expand debate and care in disease prevention and mental health promotion, the project aims to expand access to data and simplified information for mental health managers. With financial support from RaiaDrogasil Group.
“There are no established standards to evaluate the quality of services offered by Psychosocial Care Networks and managers often do not have access to information such as the profile of people served in the municipal network, and which services they attend. Our objective with the Mental Health Indicators Platform is to facilitate access to reliable information for these professionals, assisting in decision-making and contributing to the improvement of mental health services”, says Daniela Krausz, Mental Health project manager at ImpulsoGov .
