Data Stewardship of Governmental Administrative Data: Governance, Maturity and Diversity in the Brazilian context

Brazilian governmental administrative data systems face critical governance challenges that perpetuate the statistical invisibility of diversity groups. This policy brief documents systematic weaknesses in six national health information systems, revealing fragmented legislative frameworks, heterogeneous maturity levels and absence of formal data stewardship. Current systems lack institutional capacity for lineage documentation, provenance tracking and accountability. Collection of diversity data (race/color, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation) is limited and conditioned by event-specific legislation, compromising equity monitoring. We propose a comprehensive framework for data stewardship based on Aurora Principles, and inclusion by design. Key recommendations include: (1) establishing National Data Stewardship Principles through regulatory action; (2) harmonizing diversity data collection legislation; (3) creating formal stewardship instances; (4) standardizing variable collection; (5) investing in infrastructure and capacity building.