Contributions from the national health foundation for brazilian’s health and sanitation research

Abstract

This article aimed at addressing the history of the National Health Foundation as a health and sanitation research promoter, initially presenting the panorama in the country and, later, evaluating the Health and Sanitation Research Program. The methods were documentary research and literature review. The Program provided a total of R$ 21,704,520.58 and executed R$ 14,544,672.96 (in corrected amounts) financing 84 surveys from 2000 to 2011. The largest number of surveys was related to water supply, followed by management of the services. Institutions from all regions of the country were contemplated, with greater concentration of resources in the Southeast (32.6%), South (31.9%) and Northeast (21.1%), despite the fact that most of the research developed (71.4%) is of national application. As indirect results, we identified Program actions for technical training and knowledge diffusion, contextualizing sanitation as an interdisciplinary science. Although not essentially a funding agency, Funasa was relevant in the induction of sanitation research contributing to develop strategies to cope with the Brazilian diversity and complexity – in this context, the termination of this Program risks weakening the whole sanitation research sector.