Is sanitation essential to human health? The sanitation issue in the public health field.

Although sanitation problems seem to have been resolved, every day thousands of children around the world die of diseases caused by the lack of it. Nevertheless, sanitation remains virtually invisible in the Brazilian health sector agenda. The objective of this study is to investigate the importance given to this topic by researchers from the public health field.

[Collective action and veto players in public policy: the sanitation policy in Brazil (1998-2002)].

In 1999, the federal government has committed itself to the IMF with the privatization of the sanitation and other public services, seeking resources to address the fiscal crisis. He proposed the bill 4147/01 as the regulatory framework that would provide the necessary security for investors interested in acquiring the state-owned sanitation enterprises. Against this initiative, a coalition of industry interests mobilized in order to veto the adoption of privatization: the National Front for Environmental Sanitation (FNSA).