Premarital Health Counseling: A Must.

Premarital Health Counseling (PMHC) is emerging as a growing trend worldwide. The couples are provided with accurate and unbiased information and assistance, who are planning to get marry with the aim of screening, educating, and counseling about nutritional disorders, communicable diseases, medical conditions, hereditary/genetic disorders, and guiding for a healthy pregnancy. Premarital screening and adequate counseling are essential for changing attitudes toward consanguineous marriage particularly in places where consanguineous and “tribal” marriages are common, resulting in a high incidence of genetic disorders. Although making PMHC obligatory in India may appear to be a very exciting and promising proposal, its implementation still has various ethical issues and other barriers that need to be addressed.

Representações sociais dos conselheiros municipais acerca do controle social em saúde no SUS / Social representations of municipal counselors regarding social control in health in the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS)

Este estudo tem como objetivo analisar as representações sociais dos conselheiros municipais de saúde acerca do controle social em saúde. Foram realizadas 60 entrevistas com os conselheiros de dezenove municípios da Região Integrada do Distrito Federal e Entorno (RIDE-DF). A análise foi feita com o software Analyse Lexicale par Context d' um Essemble de Segments de Texte (ALCESTE) que apreendeu dois eixos temáticos: o primeiro, que trata das fragilidades dos conselhos de saúde, constituídas por quatro classes (as limitações no poder de decisão, a burocratização das práticas cotidianas, as fragilidades da participação social; as limitações na prática da representação); e o segundo, que trata do sistema de saúde na RIDE-DF, constituído por apenas uma classe que expressa à precária organização da atenção à saúde na RIDE-DF. A representação social do controle com foco na participação social parece ser constrangida por um ritual - o da burocratização das políticas e práticas nos conselhos. Essa forma de organização e funcionamento dos conselhos, hierarquizada e burocratizada, ancoradas em modelos de gestão centralizadora, têm distanciado os conselheiros das discussões sobre as necessidades de saúde, voltados para a construção de Projeto de Saúde coletivos.

This study seeks to analyze the social representations of municipal health counselors regarding social control in health. Sixty interviews were conducted with counselors of nineteen counties within the Integrated Federal District Region and Surrounding Areas (RIDE-DF). Data analysis was conducted with the use of French Alceste software, which included two thematic groups. The first dealt with the weaknesses of health councils, consisting of four categories: limitations in decision-making powers, bureaucratization of everyday practices, weaknesses in social participation and limitations in the practice of representation. The second dealt with the health system in RIDE-DF, consisting of only one category that expresses the precarious organization of health care in RIDE-DF. Social representation of social control, with a focus on social participation appears to be constrained by a ritual, namely the bureaucratization of policies and practices in the councils. This form of hierarchical and bureaucratic organization and operation of the council, based on a centralizing management model, has distanced the counselors from discussing health needs geared to the construction of public Health Projects.

Controle social no SUS: discurso, ação e reação / Social control in the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS): discourse, action and reaction

Este artigo se propõe a descrever e analisar a dinâmica da participação social, a partir das representações sociais dos Conselheiros Municipais de Saúde de Belo Horizonte sobre os sentidos do controle social. Foram utilizadas técnicas de entrevistas baseadas em roteiro semiestruturado e de observação participante. Decorridos três anos da realização da pesquisa, recorreu-se à técnica de pesquisa documental para verificar a existência de sinais de reação institucional visando minimizar as dificuldades relatadas. Verifica-se que a instituição política Conselho Municipal de Saúde, reflexivamente, aciona diversos mecanismos para aprimorar seus modos de ação e organização e, também, o comprometimento dos atores para com esse fórum.

This article seeks to describe and analyze the dynamics of social participation, from the standpoint of the social representations of the City Health Councillors of Belo Horizonte on the significance of social control. A methodological approach was used, backed by qualitative research techniques: semi-structured interviews and participant observation. Three years after the survey, documentary research was conducted to check for signs of institutional reaction seeking to minimize or even to overcome the difficulties reported. It was ascertained that the City Health Council political institution activated several mechanisms to improve their techniques of action and organization and also the commitment of stakeholders to this forum.