A participação popular na saúde: desafios e potencialidades no contexto municipal

Abstract

The legitimation of popular participation and its insertion in spaces of social control, such as councils and conferences, still presents a number of obstacles to its fulfillment. However, it was a very important historical achievement in the pursuit of the desired democracy in Brazil. This intervention research, with a qualitative approach, sought to study and elucidate the reasons that distance and / or attract the population to the institutional spaces of participation and social control in health. For this, we used participant observation and field diary records of experiences in spaces of social control and popular participation, besides the documentary research on the Local Health Councils and the Municipal Health Council that exist in a municipality in the northern region of Rio Grande do Sul. The results showed weaknesses regarding the structure and functioning of health councils and their influence on effective popular participation. They also elucidated potentialities present in these spaces that are the basis for facing the challenges in the current context. The reflections may contribute to strengthening popular participation in health processes, as well as to bring elements to the problematization and improvement of these institutional spaces.