Innovation plays an increasingly important role in health care, partly because it is responsible for a significant share of national investment in research and development, and partly because of its industrial and service provision base, which provides a conduit to future technology. The relationship between health care and development is also strengthened as a result of the leading role of health care in generating innovation. Nevertheless, Brazil’s health care production base is persistently weak, hindering both universal provision of health […]

OBJECTIVE: To analyze results of the Horus Information System, comparing elements of this system with some international experiences. METHODS: Horus is a technological innovation introduced in 2009 in the Pharmaceutical management information system of the Sistema Único de Saúde (Brazilian Unified Health System). In 2011, local managers and health professionals of 1,247 municipalities (16 states) that adhered to Horus answered questionnaires on pharmaceutical assistance in primary care and about the Horus system. This is a descriptive and exploratory study, developed […]

This paper puts health questions within the context of national development and industrial policy. It follows the idea of structuralist, Marxist and Schumpeterian approaches, in which industry and innovations form determining factors for the dynamism in capitalist economies and relative positions within the world economy. All countries that have developed and started to compete under better conditions with advanced countries have had an association between strong industry and an endogenous knowledge, learning and innovation base. However, in the field of […]

The deficiencies in Brazilian science and technology policies with regard to the challenges of the twenty-first century are discussed, while acknowledging that these policies have in some respects been very successful. The importance of health research within the framework of general endeavors in science, technology and innovation in this country is also demonstrated. The distribution of research around the world is then summarized, and a specific position is claimed for Brazil, along with some other countries, within the global panorama. […]

The focus of the present study is the Brazilian response within science, technology and innovation to the targets formulated in the UNGASS document. An analysis was made of items 70-73 of the UNGASS Draft Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS (2001), which defined science, technology and innovation targets relating to HIV/AIDS. The main topics listed in these items were put into operation in the form of keywords, in order to guide systematic searches within the standard biomedicine databases, also including the […]