Authors: João Nunes, Gabriela Lotta
This study sought to examine how CHWs, while working as links between doctors, nurses, and vulnerable groups, participate in the social construction of citizens in the implementation of Brazil’s primary healthcare policy. The study shows that perceptions of CHWs about vulnerability and agency of health system users, such as judgments about the socioeconomic, cultural and moral conditions of families cause different referrals to be made. Further, CHWs construct users as (responsible) agents or (helpless) targets, thus determining different pathways in the health system and shaping the relationship between citizens and the state. Brazil’s primary health policy, while seeking to tackle vulnerability, can also reproduce harmful social representations that contribute to the denial of citizens deemed more vulnerable.
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Resource Topic: CHW, Healthcare policy, Perceptions
Resource Type: Mixed Methods, Research
Year: 2023
Region: Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)
Country: Brazil
Publisher May Restrict Access: No