Participação popular na Estratégia Saúde da Família: espaço potencial de construção de saúde

Abstract

Local Health Councils (CLS) should act as interlocutors between the community and the health unit management to better meet the needs of the local community. But the simple implementation of CLS does not guarantee participative management in SUS. Observing the scenario of a USF (Family Health Unit), of Santo André city, in which many users had difculty in identifying their representatives, it was questioned how this representativity has occurred. It was considered necessary to strengthen the space of the CLS. Some actions were implemented, such as: a conversation with the population about the role of the CLS, the creation of a poster about this body, the community’s incentive to participate in monthly meetings, a mural at the USF to disseminate CLS information. These actions were triggering the process of rapprochement of these subjects in the search for the construction of a space for the exercise of citizenship and a quality health service.