The WHO Directions on COVID-19 and Brazilian Health Public Policies: An Analysis from the Political Sociology of Public Action

Abstract

The paper first describes a brief history of the World Health Organization and its public actions during the last decades. Then, it describes its organizational structure and its roles in global health governance. It also emphasizes some global WHO actions in this field. The objective is to show the WHO actions as part of the referential analysis of public policies, according to Jobert and Muller (1987). We then present the referential theory and describe how it helps us understand international organizations’ influence in maintaining or changing specific paradigms in public policy. Afterward, we provide a brief history of Brazil’s actions during the SARS H1N1 pandemic to illustrate how the WHO guidelines and the International Health Regulations have served as a paradigm for Brazilian public policy in this area. Then, we demonstrate that by not following the WHO recommendations to combat the pandemic, the Brazilian government generates a conflict of references expressed both in the clash between the central government and the Ministry of Health and in a federative clash opposing national and regional governments.