Vulnerabilities, care, and exposure to illness risks among people with intellectual disabilities in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021).

People with intellectual disabilities, especially those who require care, are among the most affected by severe forms of COVID-19 and COVID-19- related deaths. In this study we investigated how care needs and other vulnerabilities influence the possibility COVID-19 infection among people with intellectual disabilities in Brazil. Method: Descriptive quantitative study using an online questionnaire answered by 2,800 respondents with intellectual disabilities over the age of sixteen. Results: Individuals with a greater need for care had higher frequencies of positive COVID-19 diagnoses (6.5%-8%) and were approximately six times more likely to be infected by family members than those who did not have COVID-19 in the family. Conclusions: There is a need for specific government measures to protect people with intellectual disabilities and their caregivers, because those with greater care needs are the most exposed to risks of contagion and sickness and have potential vectors of infection among family members and caregivers.

A participação da sociedade civil na democratização do setor de saúde no Brasil / Civil society's contribution to the democratization of the health sector in Brazil

Este ensaio apresenta a trajetória da participação da sociedade civil brasileira nas conquistas do setor de saúde no período da redemocratização política no País. Autores como Carvalho², Fleury³ Paim7 e Gerschman6 auxiliam a compreensão desse caminho. Pretende-se demonstrar a importância dos movimentos sociais da saúde e suas diferentes relações com o Estado brasileiro com vista à institucionalização dos Conselhos de Saúde. Como alternativa fundamental para a concretização da democracia participativa, os avanços práticos dos mecanismos de controle social desses colegiados ainda são bastante limitados. Os autores concluem que há um verdadeiro esvaziamento político na maioria dos Conselhos de Saúde, com práticas ainda marcadas pelo passado de legitimação do poder dominante. O papel exercido outrora pelos movimentos sociais e populares de formação de conselheiros encontra-se cada vez mais distante da população, institucionalizado na representação de um controle social ainda aparentemente "figurativo". Diante da realidade vivenciada neste e em outros estudos, questiona-se a atuação dos Conselhos de Saúde como espaço público democrático.

This study shows the trajectory of the contribution of Brazilian civil society to the milestones achieved by the Brazilian health sector during the country's re-democratization. Authors such as Carvalho², Fleury³, Paim7 and Gerschman6 facilitate an understanding of the transition. The study aims to demonstrate the importance of social movements in the health field and their various relations with the Brazilian state with the view of institutionalizing Health Councils. As a fundamental alternative in the realization of a participatory democracy, the practical advances made by the social control mechanisms in these councils remain very limited. The authors conclude that most Health Boards experience a real drain of policies with practices still marked by the past's legitimizing of the dominant power. The role once played by social and popular movements for the training of counselors has become increasingly distant from the population, and institutionalized in the representation of a Social Control which is still apparently "figurative". In light of this reality uncovered in this study and in others, these Health Councils' role as a democratic public space must be questioned.