Reflections on federal legislation concerning indigenous health in Brazil

Abstract

This documentary study analyzed the trajectory of federal legislation on Indigenous Health (IH) across different governments and political-partisan periods, identifying processes of construction and dismantling of normative frameworks. Official documents published by federal agencies between 1990 and 2024 were collected from the Federal Legislation Portal and analyzed using the READ strategy. A total of 26 federal legal texts on IH were identified for the period. An association was observed between legislative production and the politicalpartisan orientation of governments, with a higher volume of implementation under administrations guided by agendas generally associated with more inclusive policy approaches. Inferential analysis revealed five thematic cores, with emphasis on legislation concerning positions, functions, allowances, committees, and emergency strategies. Frequency analysis showed that the most recurrent terms indicate a predominant focus on administrative structuring, suggesting that IH remains vulnerable to political discontinuities. Furthermore, legal production is weakly responsive to the demands of Indigenous peoples, thus evidencing a gap between normative frameworks and the effective realization of the right to health.