Lista de causas de mortes evitáveis por intervenções do Sistema Único de Saúde do Brasil

The avoidable or reducible causes of death are defined as those totally or partially preventable by health service effective actions, accessible in a determined place and time. These causes must be reviewed considering the available knowledge and technology for the practice of health care. Thus, this study is based upon a revision of literature that refers to the conceptual and empirical basis of the list of avoidable causes of death published between 1975 and 2004, and on the debate of a working-group organized by the Brazilian Ministry of Health. The paper proposes two Brazilian lists of these events -for individuals aged <5 years and five years and above -based on the available technology in the Brazilian Health System (SUS). Yet, it is on an initial stage. Although in its initial stage, the deepening of this debate seems to be promising for the methodological development of the monitoring and evaluation of health care performance in Brazil.