Right to health and social control: evaluation of citizen’s' participation at a Municipal Health Council

Abstract

The relationship between thre exercise of the right to health and social participation and control in Brazil, in the context of the Unified Health System (SUS) is still not fully explored, what has estimulated our group to initiate the development of research with this focus since 2009. This area of study and research enabled us to get closer to the Center of Social Studies at the University of Coimbra, Portugal, especially with Professor Mauro Serapione, who works in the area of health sociology, with themes such as governance and citizens' participation, social and health inequalities, evaluation of health services and qualitative research methodologies. This project for his visiting professor scholarship is a result of the cooperation between Professor Serapioni and our research group and presents as a general aim to strengthen our previous partnership with the purpose to: a) develop a research on the social participation at the Ribeirão Preto Municipal Health Council, as a follow-up of a master thesis concluded on this theme; b) continue the partnership in the elaboration and submission of three articles based on the master dissertation of Márjore Serena Jorge; c) follow-up with the advisory role Prof. Serapioni has had in the research developed by the doctoral candidate Edilene Mendonça Bernardes; d) participate in the activities of study and discussion held within the Group GEPESADES, with meetings twice a month; e) participate as a visiting professor in the graduate course "Health and Regional Development" offered to master and doctoral students from the University of São Paulo and opened to students from other institutions; f) offer the Workshop "Citizenship and social sciences: public participation in health systems" within the Graduate Program on Psychiatric Nursing at the University of São Paulo at Ribeirão Preto College of Nursing, open to the academic community; g) participate in the continuing education program Education regarding the Right to Health: a proposal from EERP-USP to users of the Public Attorneys services in the city of Ribeirão Preto, which has two undergraduate students receiving a fellowship within the Learning with Culture and Extension Program and one student fellow of the Learning with Research Program, both from USP; h) have systematic contacts with undergraduate and graduate students from GEPESADES and linked to other research groups at EERP-USP in order to give counseling regarding the development of research projects in his area of study and i) participate in the meetings of the Interdisciplinary Group on Mental Health and Solidary Economy, coordinated by Prof. Ana Luísa Aranha e Silva from EE-USP and the Group of Studies on Development (GEDE) coordinated by Prof. Melissa Franchini Cavalcanti Bandos from UniFACEF. As benefits of this visiting scholar program, we can point out: the development of a joint research project that will, in the near future, give rise to other related studies developed by our graduate students and also the students linked to Prof. Serapione in Portugal; the elaboration and submission of joint publications to national and international journals; the exchange of knowledge and experiences through the participation of the scholar in graduate courses, offering a workshop and having a continuous contact with graduate and undergraduate students; the important analysis of Prof. Serapioni regarding existing research projects in the light of health sociology. Therefore, the short and medium term benefits described in this project are just the beginning of a continuing collaboration process, whose results and initial expectations will, certainly, in the near future be surpassed in excellence and national and international projection. (AU)