Fome Zero

The program takes a number of forms, ranging from direct financial aid to the poorest families (with the Bolsa Família card) to diverse strategies such as creating water cisterns in Brazil's semi-arid areas, creating low-cost restaurants, educating people about healthy eating habits, distributing vitamins and iron supplements, supporting subsistence family farming and giving access to microcredit.

The program is believed to have contributed to Brazil's recent reported improvements in its fight against poverty, according to research promoted by some universities and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

An ex ante econometric evaluation of Bolsa Escola did find significant effects on both school attendance rates and the number of children involved in child labor.

[14] Fome Zero was considered by the opposition at the time (especially the PSDB and DEM parties) a failure, due to what they believed was the government's inability to manage the program effectively.

Murilo Zauith, a PFL federal deputy, in March 2005, said the program was faulty, citing as an example the death of several indigenous children due to malnutrition in the city of Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul.