ABSTRACT
The Brazilian nation has rich population diversity, and this makes it responsible for guaranteeing the social rights of all. In this perspective, this research seeks to categorize which are the main challenges in access to health that the rural populations face and to understand how the execution of this health care is carried out by professionals from the perspective of rural people. This is a cross-sectional study with a qualitative approach, carried out at the Nossa Senhora Aparecida Settlement, located in the municipality of Pesqueira (Pernambuco state) in 2018. The results demonstrate that the challenges facedby settled families are due to the difficulty of access to health services. In view of this, the rural population chooses to keep their cultural practices focused on their health alive. Therefore, it is common to use herbal medicines and mystics related to religious beliefs in self-care practices. It was concluded that the current public policies have gaps in their implementation, especially in terms of accessibility, security, health education, equity and respect for cultural differences. In addition, there is precariousness at the national level of studies focused on the health determinants and determinants of the rural population, which makes it necessary that more research be carried out so that new public policies can emerge.