ESG governance
The ESG goals for environment, social responsibility, and governance, has gained greater and greater importance in the day-to-day management of our business strategy. Respect for the environment, socially responsible behavior, and the continuous improvement of corporate governance practices are all aspects of our management which help to sustain us as we conduct our business relations.
| We have advanced in many areas, of which one of the most important was to reach the milestone of 2 million free health consultations, from 2019 to 2023, in the communities where we operate. |
ESG Governance practices
Governance structure
At Afya, the management of ESG issues is guided by the Sustainability Policy and involves all areas, under the leadership of the Sustainability Board and the supervision of the People and ESG Committee, responsible for supporting the Board of Directors in formulating strategies relating to environmental, social and governance issues.
Meet the members of the People Committee and ESG. Committee Composition – IR Afya
Afya also has a Technical Sustainability Committee, made up of representatives from all the teaching units, to share good practices and seek improvements together.
The Board of Directors is responsible for formulating the strategies and guidelines for running Afya and for continuously supervising and monitoring the business and its performance.
| Diversity of gender and nationality is one of the characteristics of the board | ||
| 10 board members |
3 board members are women |
4 board members are independents |
See the profiles of the directors and their professional careers. Officers and Directors – IR Afya
Remuneration
The remuneration of the Executive Officers and Senior Management is composed of fixed portions, established on the basis of market parameters, adjusted annually, and a variable portion, which consists of bonuses linked to performance. The independent members of the Board of Directors, on the other hand, are only entitled to fixed remuneration. The issues related to the compensation and benefits paid to the officers comply with the company’s internal policies and guidelines, relating to human resources management, and are assessed and monitored by the Personnel and ESG Committee.
Complementary to the variable remuneration, a group of executive directors is covered by the ‘SOP Program’, which offers the option to purchase shares in Afya, and the ‘RSU Program’, which provides for the granting of restricted shares. For more information, check out our Compensation Recoupment Policy.
ESG according to Sustainalytics
We are classified as a “low risk” company in terms of our ESG performance, according to a rating assigned by Sustainalytics, a global consulting firm and a leader in research on ESG issues. Our performance assessment placed us in the top 10% of the ranking, which includes 13,500 organizations from various countries. The ranking reinforces the idea that any ESG-related risks are, for us, extremely low.
Although the ESG risk classification is low according to Sustainalytics, internally, through our ERM – Enterprise Risk Management process, there is monitoring of relevant risks, which the main one being in the ESG context the risk of environmental non-compliance. This risk concerns non-compliance with environmental regulations, which can result in fines and legal penalties, damage to Afya’s reputation, loss of trust by stakeholders and negative impacts on the environment.
| Audit, Risks and Ethics Committee |
| Responsible for ensuring the integrity and effectiveness of the internal controls, the Audit, Risks and Ethics Committee (CARE) is an independent body, set up to supervise the processes adopted in the management of risks and compliance. It is responsible for monitoring the processes involved in drafting the Company’s financial statements. |
Environmental management
To ensure the continued improvement of our environmental activities and pay attention to our impacts, we have implemented an Environmental Management System (EMS) at a pilot unit, which is currently under preparation to provide new reference certifications. This work has been improved and will be expanded to other units in the future.
We also rely on the Sustainability Technical Commission to exchange information on best practices, and seek improvements in a joint manner.
- Environmental Policy
This is a document that contains guidelines and orientations for the environmental management routines, adopted by schools and healthtechs.
- Waste Management Commission at Brazil level
A pilot project was created in 2021, aimed to enhance the processes and procedures adopted by the units in environmental management. The following year, this practice was expanded to all of our business units.
Metrics
ESG commitment is an important part of Afya’s strategy and permeates the Company’s core values. Afya has been advancing year after year on its core pillars and, since 2019, ESG metrics have been disclosed in the Company’s quarterly financial results.
| 1Q24 | 1Q23 | 2023 | ||
| GRI | Governance and Employee Management | |||
| 405-1 | Number of employees | 9,914 | 9,567 | 9,680 |
| 405-1 | Percentage of female employees | 58% | 57% | 58% |
| 405-1 | Percentage of female employees in the board of directors | 36% | 40% | 36% |
| 102-24 | Percentage of independent member in the board of directors | 36% | 30% | 36% |
| Environmental | ||||
| Total renewable energy generated by own photovoltaic plants (MWh) | 1,794,215 | 732,767 | 4,510,637 | |
| 302-1 | Total energy consumed (MWh) | 5,831,206 | 5,468,733 | 24,036,608 |
| 302-1 | % of renewable energy consumed from own generation | 26.8% | 13.0% | 16.0% |
| 302-1 | % of energy consumed from the power grid | 30.8% | 79.0% | 60.3% |
| 302-1 | % of energy consumed from the free market | 42.3% | 8.0% | 23.7% |
| Social | ||||
| 413-1 | Number of free clinical consultations offered by Afya | 147,757 | 116,979 | 586,611 |
| Number of physicians graduated in Afya’s campuses | 20,220 | 18,126 | 20,197 | |
| 201-4 | Number of students with financing and scholarship programs (FIES and PROUNI) | 10,815 | 9,619 | 10,584 |
| % students with scholarships over total undergraduate students | 14.2% | 14.2% | 16.0% | |
| 413-1 | Hospital, clinics and city halls partnerships | 518 | 718 | 649 |
Environmental
Check out the environmental highlights of 2023:
|
|
of the electricity consumed by our undergraduate and graduate units in 2023 was drawn from clean and renewable sources* | 53% |
of the undergraduate operations use self-generated solar energy
|
16% |
of the total electricity necessary for the operations was supplied by solar energy in2023 | Emissions in 2023:** Scope 1 – 3,192.45 tCO2e Scope 2 – 0 Scope 3 – 7,391.16 Total 10,583.16 |
In 2023 Afya included in its inventory of GHG two Scope 3 emissions categories: goods and services acquired, and transportation from home to work. Together, these categories represented 50.20% of the year’s total emissions |
Social
Check out the social highlights of 2023:
| 6 hours and 40 minutes is the average number of training hours per employee | 69% |
of employees receive regular performance and career development appraisals | 6 |
specific programs for training and developing leaders |
47% |
of employees declare themselves to be black or brown | 45,1% |
women leaders in 2023, compared to 40.6% in 2022 |
72% |
of unit managers are from local communities | 40,000 |
consultations in 16 medical specialties, a major bottleneck for the SUS | 2 million+ |
free healthcare consultations provided for communities over the course of five years |
Governance
Check out the governance highlights of 2023:
4 |
independent members are on Afya’s Board of Directors | 30% |
of Board of Directors are women | Annual Sustainability Report assured by a third party |
Quality of the education service
90% of Afya’s undergraduate medical courses score 4 or 5 in the MEC evaluation. Representing around 85% of Afya’s gross revenue, undergraduate courses are periodically evaluated by the regulator of higher education in Brazil, the Ministry of Education (MEC). Evaluating the quality of courses promotes Sustainable Development Goal (“SDG”) number 4 – Quality Education, and Afya recognizes the importance of this crucial instrument for monitoring and improving the quality of higher education in the country.
- Enade
Afya obtained one of the best results amongst the publicly-traded groups operating in the National Students Examination (Enade), held every year, directed to Higher Education students. 5,219 Afya students, from 117 courses, took part of Enade. In the area of Medicine, the number of courses evaluated rose from five to 21 compared to the previous edition, that was held in 2019 (+420%).
- Relationship channels
Afya provides the “Ombudsman” and “Contact Us” relationship channels to receive questions, complaints, suggestions or criticisms from the public who consume its products and services, especially the academic community. The complaints received are dealt with by an area dedicated exclusively to providing the best experience for our audiences.
- Net Promoter Score
Our solutions hub showed NPS scores in the range of excellence (scoring between 71 and 100 on a scale of zero to 100). The significant improvement of the Undergraduate NPS, especially in relation to the medical courses and the area of Continuing Medical Education, reflects the success of our engagement strategies and the effectiveness of an approach to education that is centered on the student. Afya has also increased the quality of its medical practice solutions.
- International publications
In 2023, the number of articles published internationally by our professors hit a record high in the Company’s history: 1,775 – an increase of 32% compared to 2022, when 860 articles were published.
Check out all Afya’s practices to ensure the quality of the education service here.
- International certification
In 2023, the Center for Simulation in Health (CSS) at one of our schools received the Seal of Accreditation from the Society for Simulation in Health (SSH). This was the first undergraduate medical school in Brazil to receive this recognition. The certification attests to the fact that the simulation teaching practices at our center are on the same level as those found at the best international institutions, such as Stanford, Harvard and the University of California.
Following this achievement, other schools with medical courses began to operate their CSS in the same quality standard, so that students can learn in practice, in a simulated and controlled environment, how to practice their profession.
Privacy and Data Security
Ensuring the privacy, security and protection of personal data is a very important issue for Afya. We follow strict policies for the processing of personal data, in compliance with the relevant legal and regulatory standards.
Compliance and Adaptation to the LGPD
Created in 2021, the Privacy Office is under the management of the Data Protection Officer (DPO) and aims to ensure compliance with the LGPD (General Personal Data Protection Act) for processes that process personal data, as well as establishing guidelines, procedures and policies in line with best market practices.
LGPD compliance policies
- Data Privacy Management
- External Privacy Policy
- Internal Privacy Policy
- Privacy by Design
- Data Storage and Disposal Management
- Security Incident and Personal Data Breach Response Policy
Risk Management
We maintain a detailed incident response plan to deal quickly with any security breaches:
- We have a dedicated Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) to minimize impacts and restore security and operations in the shortest possible time;
- We comply with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules on the cyber crisis management process, detailing the processes and responsible parties for dealing with significant cyber security breaches;
- We carry out regular information security risk assessments to identify vulnerabilities and implement proactive measures to mitigate them. We continuously monitor and manage emerging threats to ensure effective protection;
- We have a recurring agenda with senior management to follow up on information security and data protection work and monitor the most significant corporate risks.
Our practices
- Registration of operations: the Privacy Office regularly maps out the processes involving the processing of personal data;
- Training: We have mandatory training and courses in our Corporate University to deal with data privacy and security;
- Awareness: We carry out recurring phishing campaigns with associated training and the dissemination of knowledge pills on the company’s official channels;
- Data subjects’ rights: We have adopted measures to ensure transparency regarding the processing of data of all our users, employees, third parties and suppliers;
- Supplier evaluation: Based on best market practices, we evaluate our suppliers to ensure that they are also aligned with the principles of the LGPD;
- Website adaptation: The websites of the Afya group companies have notices about the use of cookies and links to the cookie and privacy policies;
- Consent (Opt-in): Our forms have checkboxes where the user is informed about the purposes of the data collection and must consent to the privacy policy before continuing to send the data;
- Contracts: All our contracts have specific clauses on the processing of personal data.