ABSTRACT

Considering public health in Brazil—and the place of men’s health within it—requires first and foremost a focus on the country’s vast and historical social disparities. Brazil’s social welfare policies of the past 15 years have achieved impressive results. Between 2003 and 2013, income inequality was significantly reduced, and 31.5 million people were able to move out of poverty (Weisbrot, Johnston, & Lefebvre, 2014). Much of this was due to a national cash transfer program called Bolsa Familia that provides a monthly income (typically US $15–25) to households below the poverty line who have children under the age of 14 years old. However, even with the poverty reduction and equality-promoting policies of the past years, Brazil still ranks among the bottom 20% of countries for income distribution worldwide. To give an indicator of this social divide, currently, the richest 5% of Brazilians have the same income as the remaining 95% (Georges, 2017).