Demonstration projects - Brazil
Asthma is the fourth largest cause of admissions to hospitals and clinics in Brazil, which places a major strain on the country's public health system. The Brazilian Ministry of Health, in consultation with medical societies and nongovernmental organizations, issued decrees that provide free medication prescribed for severe asthma (in 2002), and started a medium-long term process aiming at free access to inhaled corticosteroids and bronchodilators in primary care for mild to moderate cases (in 2005). However, the distribution of medication in primary care was not regular, the primary health-care professionals were not familiar with the use of inhalers for asthma, and the process for individual reimbursement of costs of medication for a severe case was extremely complex.
GARD has two asthma demonstration projects in Brazil, one in Minas Gerais and another one in Bahia.