Social participation and health: the qualification of indigenous councilors in the context of COVID-19 in Amazonas, Brazil

Abstract:

The article describes the experience of the project “Training Indigenous Health Counselors of the DSEI/MAO with the use of ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies),” conducted in 19 base centers of the Manaus Special Indigenous Health District in the state of Amazonas, Brazil, throughout 2021. It aimed to develop a training network for local indigenous health councilors based on the perspective of breaking away from ‘banking’ logic towards liberating practices for the action of councilors and promoting their participation in public Indigenous health policies. The activities combined different pedagogical strategies and interaction media, such as 22 face-to-face workshops, which trained 255 councilors and a distance education course, which trained 268 councilors, totaling 523 councilors; and the production of specific teaching material for the project in the form of three booklets. The training content included, in addition to fundamental notions of social control, information on the COVID-19 pandemic, the construction of approaches for social control action in the context of the health emergency, and hearings on coping with the pandemic in the territories and villages.

Keywords:
social control policies; health of indigenous populations; health councils; COVID-19; local health systems