The importance of the strategy of health of a country working in accordance with the theory

(Rafaela Biazi, Unsplash)

This article was exclusively written for The European Sting by Ms. Daniela Andrade de Sá, a fourth-year medical student at Uniredentor in Itaperuna, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is affiliated to the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA), cordial partner of The Sting. The opinions expressed in this piece belong to the writer and do not necessarily reflect IFMSA’s view on the topic, nor The European Sting’s one.

The Unified Health System (SUS) is a state policy created in 1988 by the Citizen Constitution, which considers health a right of everyone and the duty of the state. It is a project that assumes and enshrines the principles of Universality, Equity and Integrality of the Brazilian health care, in which it aims at universal access of the population to services that guarantee health and well-being.

Therefore, every Brazilian, by birth or naturalization, has the right to health, just as it is the responsibility of the State to promote health, protect the citizen against the risks that are exposed and ensure that assistance in case of illness or health damage is made, describing the principle of integrality. Migrants bring with them health problems due to cultural issues, but this does not mean that they are not integrated into our network, but they add to the country’s problems through social and economic impact.

In order for the SUS to be universal, it is necessary to break legal, economic, social and cultural barriers that exist between the population and the health services, because the creation of programs for community awareness or for the eradication and control of harmful agents has broader coverage. This is due to the fact that the poorest population does not have minimum conditions of access to services, contradicting this guideline.

Equity means “treating inequalities unequally,” ensuring that members of a society achieve equal opportunities for survival, personal and social development, since inequality is unfair and must be overcome. In health, inequality is faced with falling ill and dying, with the need to create strategies that reduce harm and guarantee living conditions and health for all. It takes investment to develop the services in the regions and reorganization of the actions, because these are created according to the profile of needs and problems of the user area.

Studies show that in 2011, Brazilian public health expenditure was 3.84% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while the average of European countries was 8.3%, evidencing the difficulty found by the SUS services to provide actions. For this reason, the principles and guidelines of the SUS work in theory, but they fail to be desired in practice, confirming that the resources do not reach the needs of basic health units, emergency services and hospitals.

For that reason, in order to consolidate the implementation of SUS, municipalities must receive financial support corresponding to their requirements and build campaigns that promote health and reduce disease. Financial resources are the basis for the functioning of the system and its absence interrupts health promotion, disrupting the programs that are part of improving the quality of life of those living in Brazil. In this way, re-establishing the structure of the SUS to progress according to its principles and guidelines requires an exchange of management and time, so that the financial transfer body can ensure that the funds will promote adequate health for all.

References

TEIXEIRA, Carmen. Os princípios do sistema único de saúde. Texto de apoio elaborado para subsidiar o debate nas Conferências Municipal e Estadual de Saúde. Salvador, Bahia, 2011.

SILVA, Pedro Luiz Barros. Serviços de Saúde: o dilema do SUS na nova década. São Paulo em perspectiva, v. 17, n. 1, p. 69-85, 2003.

SIQUEIRA-BATISTA, Rodrigo et al. Educação e competências para o SUS: é possível pensar alternativas à (s) lógica (s) do capitalismo tardio?. Ciência & Saúde Coletiva, v. 18, p. 159-170, 2013.

MENDES, Áquilas. A longa batalha pelo financiamento do SUS. 2013.

MARTIN, Denise; GOLDBERG, Alejandro; SILVEIRA, Cássio. Imigração, refúgio e saúde: perspectivas de análise sociocultural. Saúde e Sociedade, v. 27, p. 26-36, 2018.

About the author

Daniela Andrade de Sá is a fourth-year medical student at Uniredentor in Itaperuna, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is Local Coordinator to the Internacional Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA Brazil) and coordinator project Hearts For The Homeless Brazil Uniredentor. She shared her academic experiences through two articles published in Brazilian journals and an experience report at the Brazilian Congress of Medical Education (COBEM). She participates in social actions constantly and aims to promote health wherever she goes.