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Tensions and contradictions of the social protection at the frontier between assistance and health

Abstract

In this article we propose a reflection regarding the transformations that occurred in Brazilian social protection, in spite of the advances and challenges of the dialogue between health and the Family Support Grant Program. In order to do so, we explored the symbolic dimension of the discourses of the beneficiaries and managers of the Family Support Grant Program, as well as of the primary health care workers. The article is based on a case study with a qualitative approach conducted in a municipality in the Southwestern region of the state of Bahia, Brazil, in 2015, through 26 interviews and three focus groups (29 participants). The statements described the advances of the Family Support Grant Program in fighting poverty, especially in situations of material poverty, as well as the effects on social recognition and dignity of the female beneficiaries. We verified limits to improve the structuring dimension of the program via its dialogue with the health sector. Stigmas and incomprehension connected to the Family Support Grant Program permeate the relationships between beneficiaries and primary health care workers. These issues hinder the acceptance of the vulnerabilities experienced on a daily basis by the families of the Family Support Grant Program as determinants of the work process in primary health care, which is still restricted to the follow-up of health conditionalities.

poverty; Health of the Family Strategy; social assistance; social stigma

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