A participação da sociedade civil na política de saúde: um estudo sobre o Conselho Municipal de Saúde de Niterói

Abstract

The present study has as main object the analysis of the democratic and participatory public policies councils, especially Niterói s local health council, focusing on civil society representatives. Health councils emerge in the early 1990 s as an important idealization of the Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS), with an equal composition and deliberative, supervising and stateful functions, monitoring public policies, including its economic and financial aspects. The central hypothesis guiding this work turns to the centralization of power within this instance by certain groups, which would limit the occurrence of the democratic participatory process and the inclusion of new actors. The study of the democratic and participatory practice was analyzed out of four relevant categories to the functioning of the board: organization, split into two subcategories, structure and composition; representation, deliberation and autonomy. There has also been an attempt to capture the perception of civil society representative counselors - users of the system and health professionals - for positive and negative aspects needed in the exercise of participation. The research was characterized by observation and presence in regular meetings of the municipal health council in Niterói, documental analysis and interviews with the civil society representatives advisers. The study shows that the relationship between State and society must be strengthened with the democratization of power towards society, yet insufficient, since the board of health in Niterói face serious barriers to its operation, especially in aspects related to autonomy and deliberative process