Conditional cash transfer programs are strategies used by countries over the past two decades, and they play a key role in reducing income inequalities and expanding access to basic services such as health and education. The Brazilian Cash Transfer Program (Bolsa Família), the largest conditional cash transfer program in the world, aims to bring immediate poverty alleviation and eradicate hunger. The objective of this study was to analyse the contributions of the Brazilian Cash Transfer Program for reducing social inequalities and ensuring the right to health, food, education and social assistance in Brazil. A review of the scientific literature published between 2003 and 2020 was conducted, associated with documentary research on government websites. There was a relationship between the Brazilian Cash Transfer Program, reduction of child mortality and increase in access to Primary Health Care services; increased access to food, including in natura; higher school attendance and reduced dropout. However, no improvement in the nutritional status of the families entitled to the program was observed, nor the interruption of the intergenerational cycle of poverty was ensured. The Brazilian Cash Transfer Program continues as a potent intersectoral policy for reducing inequities, which reinforces the need to strengthen and combine complementary policies to expand its effects.

Objective To analyze public policies on food and nutrition in Brazil, with emphasis on the last fifteen years (2003-2018). Methods Historical-documentary analysis based on a bibliographical survey on indexed bases and exploratory visits to websites of government agencies. Results The scientific and governmental findings were organized according to the Lula, Dilma and Temer governments. They explore the development of several public policies and welfare programs in food and nutrition, focusing mainly on Brazilian Hunger Eradication Program, Assistance for Needy Families Program, National Policy on Food and Nutrition Security, Food Acquisition Program, National School Nutrition Program, National Food and Nutrition Security Policy, National Food and Nutrition Surveillance System and Brazilian Misery Eradication Program. The centrality of the idea of the fight against hunger and misery in public policies during Lula’s first and second terms and Dilma’s first term stand out. Dilma’s second term is marked by the focus on healthy eating, as well as presenting the first signs of fragilization of public policies on food and nutrition. Currently, the Temer government is characterized by processes of institutional and programmatic rupture, budget cuts and setbacks in acquired rights. There is evidence of the need to activate national and international instruments to enforce the human right to adequate food and consequent strengthening of public policies on food and nutrition. Conclusion This period presents an expansion and qualification of public policies on food and nutrition, mainly in the Lula and Dilma administration, with setbacks in the Temer administration, in which continuous budget cuts weaken social, hunger reduction, poverty reduction and food and nutrition security policies.

This scientific note presents preliminary developments of the Covid-19 pandemic on unemployment, poverty, and hunger in Brazil. The data on unemployment rate, un employment insurance claims, contingent of families in extreme poverty, and food insecurity was collected in government information systems, research published by public agencies, scientific articles, and in news portals. In an upward trajectory since 2015, the increase in unemployment and the number of families in extreme poverty was exacerbated after the pandemic began, drastically reducing the purchase power and access to healthy and adequate food, affecting mainly women and the populations of the Northern and Northeastern regions. Between January and September 2020, there was a 3% increase in unemployment in Brazil and, in October 2020, there were almost 485 thousand more families in extreme poverty compared to January of the same year. There are inadequate and insufficient responses from the Brazilian government to the articulated set of problems. The Covid-19 pandemic is a new element that potentiates the recent increase in hunger in Brazil, which occurs in parallel with the dismantling of the Food and Nutrition Security programs and the expansion of fiscal austerity measures, started with the political-economic crisis in 2015. There is an urgent need to recover the centrality of the agenda to fight hunger in Brazil, associated with the development of more robust contributions on the impact of the pandemic on the phenomena of poverty and hunger.

Objetivou-se analisar aspectos dos processos de formulação, atualização e implementação da Política Nacional de Alimentação e Nutrição (PNAN), de 1999 a abril de 2020. Trata-se de artigo de debate, utilizando-se de fontes documentais institucionais, busca bibliográfica em base de dados nacionais e internacionais, teses e dissertações. Adotou-se a teoria do ciclo das políticas públicas para sistematizar e apresentar o conjunto das informações. A PNAN foi instituída em 1999 e atualizada 10 anos depois, em processo participativo, fundamentando-se em abordagem inovadora centrada nos paradigmas das práticas alimentares saudáveis, do direito humano à alimentação e da segurança alimentar e nutricional, alinhados ao Sistema Único de Saúde. Quanto à implementação, verificam-se avanços relativos à publicação dos Guias Alimentares com diretrizes nacionais; ao fomento à pesquisa em alimentação e nutrição; à ação coletiva para construção da agenda regulatória, ainda que com embates, e à descentralização de recursos financeiros para execução das ações da PNAN. O monitoramento e a avaliação focaram-se na situação alimentar e nutricional; constatou-se a insuficiência de mecanismos para retroalimentar a política. Após 20 anos, a PNAN mantém o desafio de cumprimento efetivo do seu compromisso histórico: a garantia universal do direito humano à alimentação adequada e saudável.

RESUMO Objetivo: Avaliar a percepção dos gestores quanto à atenção nutricional ao pré-natal e ao puerpério na rede básica de município da Baixada Santista, São Paulo, segundo estrutura e processo. Métodos: Realizou-se censo das 28 unidades básicas da área insular por meio de entrevistas com gestores. Avaliou-se a atenção nutricional segundo infraestrutura, processo de trabalho e vigilância alimentar e nutricional. Resultados: A inserção do nutricionista foi o principal componente insuficiente da dimensão estrutura, interferindo negativamente na atenção nutricional para 60% dos gestores. Encontrou-se baixa conformidade para as seguintes variáveis da dimensão processo: cálculo do índice de massa corporal (35%), acompanhamento do estado nutricional na curva índice de massa corporal/semana gestacional (46%) e realização de aconselhamento nutricional individualizado no pré-natal (14%). Conclusão: A atenção nutricional pré-natal e puerperal é insatisfatória para alcançar a integralidade do cuidado. Faz-se necessário sensibilizar gestores locais e capacitar equipes de saúde para assegurar a efetividade de tais ações em Santos