Educação em saúde: analise do sistema de serviços de saúde em Uberlândia

Abstract

The following research was carried out in order to investigate the actions of health education which are undertaken in the Municipal Health system in Uberlandia, Minas Gerais. Health Education aims to articulate the technical and popular knowledge, and mobilize institutional communitarian, public and private resources. It is a dimension of health promotion which has become the great possibility to ensure people have quality of life. The study discusses the interaction of geography and health in the interpretation of the effects of the environment on human health, analyzes the history of public health in Brazil that led to the creation of the Unified Health System - SUS and researched the process of training health professionals. Health Promotion means organizing the human presence in space; providing a healthy environment; ensuring the provision of health services and encouraging the adoption of healthy habits. This is a complex process that goes beyond the scope of the health sector, demanding Intersectoral action. The study aims to understand how the Intersectorial action has been implemented; it reviews the health-disease process from the classical theories since Herodotus and Hippocrates to Health and Medical Geography, which have been studying the relationship between environment and human health. In examining the case of public health in Brazil, it is clear that the Constitution of 1988 which resulted in the Health System - SUS ensured health to all Brazilians as a citizenship right. But during these last 23 years, the structure of the assistance network had problems related to the conception of the process professional formation and social inequalities found in the country, and many of these have been worsen by the intense urbanization over the last 50 years. The study showed that the city of Uberlandia, has its Network Health Care already structured, especially in Primary Service. The official figures show that the other services that make part of the urban infrastructure are also satisfactorily delivered. However, health education, essential for promotion of healthy behaviors, the study found little interaction with community initiatives developed in the public field. In the public field, preventive actions are more easily noticed, addressed to the individual and specific groups by specific professionals. On the other hand, the administrative area was modified in 2009 by creating specific coordination on the management structure to deal with the issue.