The objective of this article was to develop a study of the impact on public health of the sanitation deficiencies in Brazil from 2001 to 2009. Deaths due to diseases related to inadequate sanitation accounted, on average, 13,449 deaths per year, or about 1.31% of total deaths. The annual average of compulsory notification of cases due to diseases related to inadequate sanitation conditions was 466,351 cases, with an expense of R$ 30,428,324.92 with medical appointments in this period. It was identified an average of 758,750 hospitalizations due to lack of sanitation, with a total expenditure of R$ 2,111,567,634.61 in the period. The total expenditure on medical appointments and hospitalizations due to diseases associated with sanitation consumed 2.84% of the Unified Health System expenditures with these items in the period.
sanitation; public health; deaths; medical appointments; hospitalizations; indicators