There are 168,700 cases because of infections transmitted by vector insects, followed by 163,800 intestinal diseases
Brazil registered more than 344,000 hospitalizations for diseases related to inadequate environmental sanitation in 2024, with 168,700 related to some infection propagated by an insect-vector, especially dengue.
In 2nd place, come the disease of feco-oral transmission (transmitted stool skin of an infected individual), such as gastroenteritis caused by viruses, bacteria or parasites, with 163,800 cases.
The data are research released by the Brazil Institute, this Wednesday (19.mar.2025), anticipating World Water Day, celebrated on March 22.
Despite the large absolute number – which represents almost 950 hospitalizations per day – since 2008, records have fallen on average 3.6% per year.
Situation in the regions
The situation in some regions is more worrying. Last year, the incidence of hospitalizations in the Midwest region was the largest in Brazil (25.5), because of the dengue outbreak. Already the Northern Region registered 14.5 hospitalizations per 10,000 inhabitants for feco-oral transmission diseases, twice the Brazilian rate.
The worse states were Amapá, with an incidence of 24.6 hospitalizations and Rondônia, with 22.2 hospitalizations for 10,000 inhabitants.
The Northeast region registered a general rate close to the Brazilian average, but also stood out negatively in the analysis of feco-oral transmissions. In addition to the region, having the 2nd highest incidence rate in the country, with 12.6 hospitalizations per 10,000 inhabitants, in the state of Maranhão, this rate reached 42.5, 6 times more than the Brazilian average.
Although not the only cause, these diseases are very related to the lack of sanitation, as they are the result of virus infection, bacteria or parasites eliminated in the feces of a sick person, which are transmitted to others mainly by contaminated water and food consumption and lack of hand sanitization.
Insect -transmitted diseases are also related to sanitation, because the accumulation of waste favors the proliferation of these animals.
Most affected
Because of this, the Brazil Institute points out that they affect the populations of lower socioeconomic status with greater intensity.
In 2024, 64.8% of the total hospitalizations were black or brown persons. Although indigenous people account for only 0.8% of the total, the incidence between them was 27.4 cases per ten thousand inhabitants.
Children and the elderly are the ones who often get sick with most seriousness, requiring hospitalization. Among people hospitalized in 2024, about 70,000 were children up to 4 years old, or 20% of the total. In this age group, the incidence was 53.7 cases at home 10,000 people, 3 times more than the average of all ages.
Among people over 60, the incidence was 23.6, with about 80,000 hospitalizations, or 23.5% of the total.
The Brazil Institute estimates that the advancement of treated water supply and sewage collection and treatment can reduce the country’s hospitalizations rate by almost 70% and promote savings of $ 43.9 million per year.
Mortality
The study also analyzes the mortality associated with these diseases compared to data of 2023. This year, 11,544 deaths from environmental sanitation diseases were recorded, the majority (5,673 cases) by feco-oral infections, and another 5,394 caused by insect-transmitted diseases.
The deaths fell from 2008 to 2023 in the country. However, in most Brazilian municipalities, this indicator was stagnant and in 1,748 cities, the mortality rate grew during this period.
The deaths in 2023 were quite higher among the elderly, with 8,830 occurrences, or 76% of the total. The clipping by ethnicity shows that the rate of death among the indigenous people was 4 times higher than the general population, although the absolute amount of cases is much lower than between white or black people.
With information from.
