Abstract
Objective:
To understand the social determinants of health from the perspective of the work of community health agents.
Method:
A qualitative study conducted in a Health District Management in the city of Porto Alegre/Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, through focus groups and semi-structured interviews with community health agents. The analysis took place through thematic categorization, and the social determinants of health were adopted as the analytical category.
Results:
Twenty-five (2525. Acosta LMW, Bassanesi SL. O paradoxo de Porto Alegre: os determinantes sociais e a incidência da tuberculose. Rev Bras Epidemiol Suppl DSS Internet . 2014 citado 2018 jun. 20 ;88-101. Disponível em: http://www.scielo.br/pdf/rbepid/v17s2/pt_1415-790X-rbepid-17-s2-00088.pdf
http://www.scielo.br/pdf/rbepid/v17s2/pt...
) community health agent workers participated. Overlapping individual and collective themes emerged, from violence and drug trafficking to lack of sanitation, improperly disposed garbage, illiteracy and the health problems themselves.
Conclusion:
The study revealed a complex relationship between the work of community health agents and the social determinants of health, reinforcing the need for a cohesive health team with intersectoral initiatives to address the different demands of the territories which are worked and lived in.
Descriptors:
Community Health Workers; Primary Health Care; Health Status Disparities; Working Conditions; Social Determinants of Health