Use of the health care net work of Juiz de Fora: the opinion of the user

Abstract

The demographic and epidemiological changes occurred over the last decades assume particular characteristics in Brazil and demand for a redefinition of public policies, in special as refers to the health policies. In 1994, this process culminates in the implantation of the Family Health Strategy (FHS) as a new paradigm following the basic principles of the Unified Health System, integrality, equity and universality, by means of continued care, disease prevention and health promotion principally for the more vulnerable populations. For meeting this demand, the strategy depends on a service network capable of delivering care in cases the FHS cannot resolve, establishing a reference and counter-reference system. Data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews in four basic healthcare units of the Family Health Program. Based on the view of the users enrolled in the Family Health Program we discuss the performance of this service network in an attempt to identify some bottlenecks and suggest strategies for granting better access to the users.