Obesity Care in SUS Primary Care Grows 259% in Ten Years
Sisvan records 11.12 million adults with obesity in 2026; 71.5% of those monitored are above their ideal weight.
Translated from the Portuguese original by the Panorama newsroom. Read in Portuguese
Summary written by the Panorama newsroom from the sources listed below. Facts are attributed to the original publications.
The number of Brazilians with obesity monitored by Sisvan, the Health Ministry's food and nutrition surveillance system, jumped from 3.09 million in 2016 to 11.12 million in 2026, a 259% increase. The data were published by Folha.
Adults with obesity now make up 36% of the adult population monitored in SUS primary care. Overweight rose from about 4.19 million to 10.76 million (a 156.8% increase). Combined, the two conditions reach 21.88 million people, or 71.5% of adults seen.
Folha reports that Rio Grande do Sul has the country's worst obesity and overweight rates.
Endocrinologist Bruno Halpern, president of the World Obesity Federation, points to bottlenecks ranging from a lack of medications to little training of professionals. According to him, the SUS lacks a unified clinical protocol for treating excess weight.
Because bariatric surgery is indicated only for severe obesity, most patients are left without support. Even those who manage to have surgery face uneven waiting lists and a lack of supplements after the operation, the doctor says.