Infectious diseases which have not been considered failures up to this point in Brazil are dengue fever and visceral leishmaniasis. Dengue rates have increased six times since the early 1990s. These two infectious diseases are still a big public health problem in Brazil because of complex transmission patterns and no effective vaccine available which make it difficult to monitor, and since there are a lack of available treatments, treatment options are limited (Barreto et al., 2011).
In Brazil, health care is recognized as a right. Sistema Unico de Saude (SUS) is the Brazilian healthcare system and it focuses on universal access, decentralization, and social participation. Goals of SUS are to promote health, prevent sickness, provide care for sick or injured people, and address non communicable diseases as well as infectious diseases within the country. Brazil's health care system is currently facing an issue with the double burden of disease because Brazil is a developing country. SUS has funded vaccine programs making vaccines free and available to the entire country which has led to the control of infectious diseases such as smallpox, tetanus, and measles. Vaccination policies need to be reevaluated because of challenges associate an increased drug resistance. Continues research needs to be in place to develop new treatments and vaccines for diseases not yet under control; biomedical, epidemiological, and public health research into infectious disease is adequate to for preparation against emerging infectious diseases (Barreto et al., 2011). .
Eradication programs are successful in eliminating infectious diseases when transmission or reproduction vectors of the disease are simple or easy to disrupt. Brazil eliminated Chagas disease by collaborating with several different governments in South America to eliminate the disease's primary vector, Triatoma infestans. The control strategies involved interrupting transmission and ensuring safe blood transfusion.
