CSP has published two thematic editions on indigenous people’s health ¹1. Coimbra Jr. CEA. Editorial. Cad Saúde Pública 1991; 7:449-50.^,22. Santos RV, Escobar AL. Saúde dos povos indígenas no Brasil: perspectivas atuais. Cad Saúde Pública 2001; 17:258-9. since the journal’s first volume in 1985. Eighteen years since the last Supplement, the third edition now presents a set of articles that specifically address issues related to the health of indigenous children and adolescents in Brazil and elsewhere in Latin America.

The last two decades have witnessed a restructuring of the indigenous people’s health system in Brazil, leading to important strides in social and health policies for these peoples. Despite all the difficulties in implementing this subsystem and the persistence of unfavorable health indicators, Brazil now definitely sees active participation by indigenous peoples themselves in the spaces and struggles for their health rights.

In the academic and scientific field, recent decades have been marked by a significant increase in studies on indigenous people’s health in Brazil, including analyses of official databases and population-based surveys generating primary data, among other research perspectives. Despite persistent gaps, the country can now debate indigenous people’s health more specifically in both the local and national contexts. The two previous thematic editions in CSP on indigenous people’s health were more generic, but the accumulation of knowledge and expertise since then now allows us to take further and more specific steps. The set of studies in this Supplement of CSP thus addresses health problems in specific age groups with their characteristics, applying an innovative and interdisciplinary approach to more recent health issues in indigenous children and adolescents.

The challenge of studying this theme involves complexities in the health panorama of indigenous peoples in Brazil and Latin America in general, characterized by heavy and overlapping disease burdens and high mortality rates, associated with socioeconomic, political, and environmental changes that have occurred over time in different ways and at different paces ³3. Coimbra Jr. CEA, Santos RV, Welch JR, Cardoso AM, de Souza MC, Garnelo L, et al. The First National Survey of Indigenous People's Health and Nutrition in Brazil: rationale, methodology, and overview of results. BMC Public Health 2013; 13:52.^,44. Caldas ADR, Santos RV, Borges GM, Valente JG, Portela MC, Marinho GL. Mortalidade infantil segundo cor ou raça com base no Censo Demográfico de 2010 e nos sistemas nacionais de informação em saúde no Brasil. Cad Saúde Pública 2017; 33:e00046516.^,55. Mesenburg MA, Restrepo-Mendez MC, Amigo H, Balandrán AD, Barbosa-Verdun MA, Caicedo-Velásquez B, et al. Ethnic group inequalities in coverage with reproductive, maternal and child health interventions: cross-sectional analyses of national surveys in 16 Latin American and Caribbean countries. Lancet Glob Health 2018; 6:e902-13.^,66. Baldoni NR, Aquino JA, Alves GCS, Sartorelli DS, Franco LJ, Madeira SP, et al. Prevalence of overweight and obesity in the adult indigenous population in Brazil: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Diabetes Metab Syndr 2019; 13:1705-15.^,77. Horta BL, Santos RV, Welch JR, Cardoso AM, dos Santos JV, Assis AMO, et al. Nutritional status of indigenous children: findings from the First National Survey of Indigenous People's Health and Nutrition in Brazil. Int J Equity Health 2013; 12:23.. In keeping with this scenario, international studies point to large health disparities between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples, including in Latin America ⁸8. Anderson I, Robson B, Connolly M, Al-Yaman F, Bjertness E, King A, et al. Indigenous and tribal peoples' health (The Lancet-Lowitja Institute Global Collaboration): a population study. Lancet 2016; 388:131-57..

This Supplement consists of a set of articles that underline various striking health inequities and discuss a broad range of relevant issues in the collective health field. The articles include contributions on health problems that have stood out in this age bracket, such as the nutritional transition, violence, and suicide. Prenatal care is also addressed in this edition, in addition to anthropological analyses on indigenous women’s health. Various studies drawing on primary and secondary data provide a current overview of Latin America with persistently high morbidity and mortality rates from infectious and parasitic diseases in indigenous children and adolescents.

This Supplement thus seeks to present different perspectives on the health of indigenous children and adolescents in Latin America, making the debate accessible to society and strengthening the discussion on health inequalities and inequities in Brazil and Latin America. The current political and socioeconomic context in Latin America poses real risks to the safeguards for indigenous peoples’ rights, with direct repercussions on children’s health and their morbidity and mortality profiles. We hope this reading will provide food for thought on the importance of the various levels of healthcare offered to indigenous peoples, always respecting their specificities and cultural characteristics.

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