The Digital Health in Maré pilot project, integrated into the SUS Digital Program, Brazil’s national strategy for the digital transformation of the Unified Health System (SUS), seeks to address a challenge shared by contemporary health systems: using digital transformation to expand access to health services and reduce health inequalities in vulnerable territories.
The initiative was developed through a participatory process involving public managers, education and research institutions, community organizations, health professionals, and residents of the Complexo da Maré in Rio de Janeiro, a territory comprising 16 favelas and more than 124,000 residents. The identification of local needs informed the collective development of a Digital Transformation Action Plan, taking into account the dimensions of digital maturity and the community’s socioterritorial specificities.
The planned actions included Telehealth, shared governance, community communication and mobilization, digital literacy, and the strengthening of Primary Health Care. As the first area of implementation, Telehealth received funding from Brazil’s Ministry of Health to establish a coordinating center for team training and the provision of teleconsultations, contributing to continuity of care even in situations where movement is restricted due to violence or other events that hinder access to health services.
Between November 2024 and April 2026, 3,116 teleconsultations were carried out.
The experience demonstrates that the co-creation and territorialization of Digital Health policies strengthen solutions that respond to local needs and generate lessons that may be adapted to other vulnerable urban territories seeking participatory, equitable, and sustainable models of digital transformation in health.
For more information, please visit: https://susdigital.org.br/story/391