[Political changes and public health reforms in Brazil. The first Vargas government (1930-1945)]

The goal of this article is to describe and analyze the institutional and public health policy changes produced in Brazil during the government of Getúlio Vargas between 1930 and 1945. This article intends to cover a regrettable historiographical void regarding public health policies during this crucial period of 20th century Brazilian history. A key tissue of this article is the relation established between the public health reforms and the political and ideological changes that occurred under the political regime installed in 1930, signalling both the transformations and the continuities with past regimes and the impact of these transformations in the contemporary Brazilian public health system.