Brazil

Title II, Ch. I
Article 5. All persons are equal before the law, without any distinction whatsoever, Brazilians and foreigners residing in the country being ensured of inviolability of the right to life, to liberty, to equality, to security and to property, on the following terms:
I – men and women have equal rights and duties under the terms of this Constitution;
II – no one shall be obliged to do or refrain from doing something except by virtue of law;
III – no one shall be submitted to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment;
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XLII – the law shall punish any discrimination which may attempt against fundamental rights and liberties;
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Article 6. Education, health, work, habitation, leisure, security, social security, protection of motherhood and childhood, and assistance to the destitute, are social rights, as set forth by this Constitution.

Article 7. The following are rights of urban and rural workers, among others that aim to improve their social conditions:…
XXII – reduction of work related risks by means of health, hygiene and safety provisions;
XXIII – additional remuneration for strenuous, unhealthy or dangerous work, as established by law;
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XXXIII – prohibition of night, dangerous or unhealthy work for minors under eighteen years of age, and of any work for minors under fourteen years of age, except as an apprentice;…

TITLE VIII, Ch. II
Article 196. Health is a right of all and a duty of the State and shall be guaranteed by means of social and economic policies aimed at reducing the risk of illness and other hazards and at the universal and equal access to actions and serv ices for its promotion, protection and recovery.

Article 197. Health actions and services are of public importance, and it is incumbent upon the Government to provide, in accordance with the law, for their regulation, supervision and control, and they shall be carried out directly or by third parties and also by individuals or private legal entities.

Article 198. Health actions and public services integrate a regionalized and hierarchical network and constitute a single system, organized according to the following directives:
I – decentralization, with a single management in each sphere of government;
II – full service, priority being given to preventive activities, without prejudice to assistance services;
III – participation of the community.
Paragraph 1. – The unified health system shall be financed, as set forth in article 195, with funds from the social welfare budget of the Union, the states, the Federal District and the municipalities, as well as from other sources.
Paragraph 2. The Union, the States, the Federal District and the municipalities shall invest, annually, a minimum amount in public health activities and services, calculated as percentages of proceeds and revenues, as follows:
I – in the case of the Union, as per the provisions of the supplementary law subject of paragraph 3;
II – in the case of States and Federal District, the proceeds of taxes subject of the article 155 and the revenues subject of articles 157 and 159, I, a, and clause II, discounted the amounts which shall be remitted to the municipalities;
III – in the case of municipalities and Federal District, the proceeds of the taxes subject of article 156 and the revenues subject of articles 158 and 159, I, b and paragraph 3.
Paragraph 3. A supplementary law, which shall be reassessed at least every five years, shall establish:
I – the percentages mentioned by paragraph 2;
II – the criteria by which the following shall be shared: the fundings of the Union bound to health spendings to be remitted to the States, Federal District and municipalities, and the respective State funds to be remitted to the municipalities, with the aim of a progressive reduction of regional unequalities;
III – the norms for accounting, assessment and control of expenditures with health at federal, state, districtal and municipal levels;
IV – the norms for calculation of the amount to be invested by the Union.
Paragraphs 2 and 3 and respective clauses added by CA 29, September 13th 2000.
Paragraph 4 – The local managers of the Unified Health System may admit communitary health agents and endemy combat agents, by means of a public admission process, in accordance with the nature and complexity of the assignments and with specific requirements of performance.
Paragraph 5 – Federal law shall provide for the juridical regime and the regulatory norms of the activities of the communitary health agents and the endemy combat agents.
Paragraph 6 – Besides the cases mentioned by paragraph 1 of article 41 and paragraph 4 of article 169 of the Federal Constitution, the civil servant exercizing functions equivalents to those of the communitary health agents and endemy combat agents may lose office in case of non meeting of specific requirements, established by law, to its exercize.
Paragraphs 4, 5 and 6 added by CA 51, February 14th 2006.

Article 199. Health assistance is open to private enterprise.
Paragraph 1 – Private institutions may participate in a supplementary manner in the unified health system, in accordance with the directives established by the latter, by means of public law contracts or agreements, preference being given to philanthropic and non-profit entities.
Paragraph 2 – The allocation of public funds to aid or subsidize profit- oriented private institutions is forbidden.
Paragraph 3 – Direct or indirect participation of foreign companies or capital in heath assistance in the country is forbidden, except in cases provided by law.
Paragraph 4 – The law shall provide for the conditions and requirements which facilitate the removal of organs, tissues and human substances for the purpose of transplants, research and treatment, as well as the collection, processing and transfusion of blood and its by-products, all kinds of sale being forbidden.

Article 200. It is incumbent upon the unified health system, in addition to other duties, as set forth by the law:
I – to supervise and control proceedings, products and substances of interest to health and to participate in the production of drugs, equipments, immunobiological products, blood products and other inputs;
II – to carry out actions of sanitary and epidemiologic vigilance as well as those relating to the health of workers;
III – to organize the training of personnel in the area of health;
IV – to participate in the definition of the policy and in the implementation of basic sanitation actions;
V – to foster, within its scope of action, scientific and technological development;
VI – to supervise and control foodstuffs, including their nutritional contents, as well as drinks and water for human consumption;
VII – to participate in the supervision and control of the production, transportation, storage and use of pschycoactive, toxic and radioactive substances and products;
VIII – to cooperate in the preservation of the environment, including that of the workplace.