São Paulo, Brazil

Our Current Programs

• Tobacco Control

  Tobacco use is one of the leading preventable causes of illness and death, responsible for 477 lives lost every day in Brazil. Despite the country’s historic progress on this agenda, the tobacco industry continues to develop strategies to target and attract new consumers, especially young people, including offering flavored products and promoting electronic smoking devices. 

   

  We work to strengthen tobacco control policies in Brazil through communication initiatives developed in partnership with civil society organizations. Our work helps build public awareness and support for measures that discourage tobacco use, such as increasing taxes on tobacco products and updating the minimum price of cigarettes, while also advocating for the continued ban on electronic smoking devices. Alongside other advocacy efforts, our campaigns, including #CancelaOVape and F*Nicotine, seek to engage a new generation in exposing and challenging the tobacco industry’s strategies. 

• More Data Better Health

  The health landscape is constantly changing. Demographic, epidemiological, environmental, and social changes bring new challenges and require governments to make increasingly agile decisions. Producing representative data quickly and efficiently is therefore essential to keep pace with the needs of the population. More Data, Better Health is an innovative health data collection program based on population surveys. The initiative expands our ability to listen to the population and enables us to generate information quickly and at low cost to inform health decision-making and strengthen effective, evidence-based public policies.  

   

  Complementing traditional surveys, the program tests new data collection methodologies and monitors emerging or underexplored health topics. Through fully online, self-administered surveys, it has investigated topics including Primary Health Care, everyday discrimination, climate and health in the Legal Amazon, and cancer risk factors. In its first module, data collection across all Brazilian states was completed in just 14 days, and the model demonstrated its potential to reduce the cost and time required for interviews by up to 70% compared with traditional household surveys.

• Partnership for Healthy Cities

  Cities play a critical role in population health. With more than half of the world’s population living in urban areas, local governments are strategically positioned to develop and implement policies that create healthier environments and help prevent disease and injury. The Partnership for Healthy Cities is a global network of more than 70 cities committed to creating healthier, safer and more equitable urban centers by reducing the prevalence of noncommunicable diseases and injuries.   Supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the initiative is implemented in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Vital Strategies. In Brazil, the network includes the cities of Fortaleza, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo. 

   

  The three Brazilian cities are currently developing initiatives to address the health impacts of extreme heat. In addition, Fortaleza is working to monitor air quality, while Rio de Janeiro is developing tobacco control and overdose prevention initiatives. Fortaleza has more than 30 air quality sensors and launched the Climate Risk Observatory during COP30. São Paulo created SampaAdapta, an initiative that monitors climate conditions and their relationship with health to guide responses to extreme heat. Rio de Janeiro adopted a resolution to strengthen tobacco control monitoring and enforcement, supported by a digital dashboard that tracks violations and complaints. 

• Food Policy

  Among Brazilian adolescents, fewer than one in three consumed vegetables on the day before the 2024 National School Health Survey (PeNSE)(Portuguese), while more than 40% consumed products such as soft drinks, processed desserts, and cookies. We work in partnership with civil society organizations to strengthen public policies that promote healthy diets through strategic communication efforts. Our work includes advocating for health taxes on unhealthy products, promoting healthier food environments in schools, regulating the advertising of ultra-processed foods, promoting the Food Guide for the Brazilian Population, and advocating for appropriate nutrition labeling. 

   

  This work has contributed to important advances, including the adoption of front-of-package warning labels in Brazil. More recently, we have supported advocacy efforts to advance health taxes, including the taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages under Brazil’s Selective Tax, and measures to improve food environments in schools. In 2025, Ceará passed a law banning the provision, sale, and advertising of ultra-processed and sugary foods in public and private schools across the state.

• Alcohol Policy

  Alcohol consumption causes deaths and disease and carries significant social and economic costs. In Brazil, more than 100,000 deaths are attributable to alcohol consumption, which also generates more than R$20 billion in annual indirect costs associated with premature deaths. The RESET Alcohol program strengthens public policies to reduce alcohol consumption and related harms, focusing on effective measures recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), particularly pricing and taxation policies. To support this work, the program combines evidence generation, strategic communication, and support for policy development and implementation. 

   

  As part of this work, we have produced new evidence on the impacts of alcohol in Brazil, including an estimate that a 20% reduction in alcohol consumption could save more than 10,000 lives each year. These findings informed the Dose of Reality campaign, which reached more than 20 million people, and contributed to the debate on the Selective Tax. Our proposed approach to alcohol taxation was incorporated into the bill approved by the legislature, and setting appropriate tax rates will be critical to achieving the expected health impacts.

• Epidemic Prevention

  When a public health threat emerges, every day counts. Rapidly detecting, notifying, and responding to outbreaks can prevent diseases from spreading and save lives. In partnership with Resolve to Save Lives, we work to strengthen outbreak detection, notification, and early response systems through the 7-1-7 target, which sets clear performance standards for three timeliness metrics: seven days to detect a suspected disease outbreak, one day to notify a public health authority responsible for action, and seven days to complete early response actions. In Brazil, we supported the implementation of the strategy in Recife, doubling the city’s capacity to respond to outbreaks in just one year. Building on this experience, we have supported the expansion of the metrics to health surveillance centers in Brazil’s Northeast and North regions, contributing to their adoption at the national level. 

   

  Our work on epidemic prevention also played an important role during the COVID-19 pandemic, when we supported governments in responding to the crisis and developed tools such as the National Excess Mortality Dashboard and the Social Media and COVID-19 Dashboard (Portuguese), which monitored symptoms and behaviors to track pandemic trends.

• Lead Poisoning Prevention

  Lead exposure is a major public health challenge and can cause serious and permanent health effects. Children are particularly vulnerable: even low levels of exposure can affect neurological development and have lifelong consequences. Vital Strategies is a proud implementing partner of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Lead Poisoning Prevention Initiative. In Brazil, we work to strengthen surveillance and prevention efforts. 

   

  Our work includes biomonitoring to generate new national data on blood lead levels among children, developing clinical protocols for diagnosis and treatment, and integrating health and environmental data to inform public policies and prevention efforts.

• Gender-Based Violence Prevention

  Gender-based violence is a major public health issue: in Brazil, around one in three adult women experienced some form of violence over a one-year period. We work to strengthen the capacity of health systems to identify these situations early and help interrupt cycles of violence before they escalate, combining data, technology, and health worker training. 

   

  In Recife, our analyses showed that women experiencing violence increase their use of health services around 90 days before a formal report, revealing an important window of opportunity for intervention. Building on this insight, we developed ClarIA, an artificial intelligence-powered alert system integrated into the electronic health records of the city’s public health network. The tool analyzes health care data and, when it identifies signs of violence, alerts Primary Health Care professionals, supporting early identification and referral to protection services. The technology is combined with health worker training and efforts to strengthen the support network. Our work in this area has also expanded to Rio de Janeiro, where we support the city in using health data to strengthen violence prevention efforts targeting women. Learn more about our work on violence against women.

• Violence Against Children

  Violence against children is a complex issue with serious consequences for health. Underreporting and data gaps make it difficult to understand the full extent of the problem and guide effective prevention and response efforts. We work to strengthen the use of data and evidence to address this challenge. 

   

  In partnership with the Brazilian Coalition to End Violence against Children and Adolescents, we made Brazil the first country to adapt the INSPIRE Indicators to its local context. Developed by international institutions under the leadership of the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, the indicators make it possible to monitor strategies for preventing and responding to violence. Building on this work, we brought together and organized data previously scattered across different databases into a public platform with 62 indicators, enabling users to track progress, identify gaps, and guide priorities and public policies on the issue.

• Mental Health Promotion

  Around half of mental health conditions manifest by age 14, underscoring the importance of promoting mental health and preventing mental health problems from an early age. Vital Strategies develops data-driven, evidence-based, and innovative solutions to support public policies in this area. These include the Children Mental Health Promotion Index, which brings together 29 indicators on risk and protective factors across all Brazilian municipalities. 

   

  Our current main area of work combines data and artificial intelligence to strengthen the prevention and early identification of mental health risks among children. The initiative includes developing an AI tool to support more timely interventions and supporting Brazilian organizations in creating and scaling innovative initiatives. Through this work, we seek to strengthen an ecosystem with the potential to scale these solutions across the public health system.

• Environmental Health

  Pollution, extreme weather events, and other environmental conditions have direct impacts on health and deepen inequalities, disproportionately affecting more vulnerable populations. We work to expand the use of data and evidence to understand these risks and develop public policies that promote healthier, more resilient environments. 

   

  One of the initiatives developed in this area is the Children and Environment Dashboard, created in partnership with UNICEF. It brings together 14 indicators of environmental exposure across Brazil’s 5,571 municipalities and provides assessments and recommendations to support local public officials in protecting children. The tool helps identify priority risks in each municipality and offers 50 recommendations to guide the planning and implementation of local public policies. 

• Road Safety

  In 2024, more than 37,000 people lost their lives in road crashes in Brazil, equivalent to more than 100 deaths every day and representing a major public health challenge. Vital Strategies is an implementing partner of the Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety. In Brazil we work to reduce road deaths and injuries and promote safer mobility at different levels of government, with work in the cities of Campinas, Rio de Janeiro, and Salvador, across the state of São Paulo, and at the federal level. In partnership with governments and other organizations, we strengthen capacity to plan, implement, and evaluate evidence-based road safety policies, combining the use of data with urban interventions, enforcement, and communication. 

   

  Recent results include a 35% reduction in deaths on urban roads in Campinas during the first seven months of 2026, driven by a strategy combining speed management, enforcement, road interventions, education, and communication. This experience is also helping bring effective road safety policies to other municipalities across Brazil. One pathway for this expansion is the Coalition of Cities to Reduce Road Deaths and Injuries, an initiative of the National Front of Mayors that supports municipalities in implementing effective road safety policies.