Divisões raciais e desigualdade de saúde no Brasil

Abstract

The thesis investigates racial health inequality in Brazil. Its about dimension that represents the vital consequences of social stratification. The work is based on the well-documented finding in the international literature that socioeconomic disparities are strongly associated with it. Using different forms of estimation – which include additive and interactive regression models, in addition to calculations of differences such the absolute and semielasticity – two main lines of analysis are followed. Initially, there is an attempt to explain how factors such as class, income, education and geographic area mediate the observed asymmetries. Subsequently, the way in which race interacts and makes the effects of these components vary, in the sense that their returns are not the same for whites and blacks. Basically, the mediation analysis estimates the contribution of the variables considered, within the stratification system, to the total amount of inequality in question. Interactive modeling, on the other hand, measures the probabilities and differences arising from the mutual influence between the effects of race and those generated by socioeconomic and spatial contexts. The analytical strategy of the thesis is quantitative, logistic regression is used as a statistical technique and the procedures are based on the use of the Stata computational program. The data used refer to the 2013 National Health Survey, conducted by the IBGE. The main outcome of interest, or response variable, is self-rated health status. Attention is also devoted to risky habits and the consequences of illness. Research reveals that, due to suffering from multiple disadvantages, blacks are much more likely to report poor health status. In terms of conclusions, what the field of medical sociology has emphasized is corroborated, that is, that most of the racial differences in health are due to asymmetries in access to jobs, income and education and not to biological, individual, cultural and behavioral characteristics of individuals. In Brazil, due to the unequal distribution of groups and the ordering of positions and resources, especially with regard to large regions, the territory also translates into a key element. The main finding refers to the examination of how and with what impacts the effects of race and those of socioeconomic and geographic contexts affect each other. It is verified that the affectation occurs with intense repercussions even in extremely circumscribed scenarios or of proximity between the cases. It means that race operates as a distinctive element, capable of provoking very different results, even though the groups are in very similar conditions.