Health is a social right, the same way that education, work, housing, leisure, security, social security, protection of motherhood and childhood, and assistance to the homeless, assured under the article 6 of the 1988 Federal Constitution. In turn, Article 198 of the Brazilian Constitution includes community participation among the items dealing with actions and public facilities that compound a regionalized and hierarchical network of Unified Health System (SUS, Sistema Único de Saúde). The organic laws of health (Nº 8,080 of September 19, 1990 and Nº 8,142, of December 28, 1990) regulated the constitutional provisions that health is a right of all and a duty of the state; and that society, through social participation, ensures compliance with of this right.
Law Nº 8,142, which provide for community participation in the SUS, regulated the National Council of Health and the National Conference on Health as deliberative collegiate instances of the Unified Health System. Council of Health and Conference on Health are instances of social participation in all level of SUS management. The first meet on an ongoing basis, is composed of representation from various segments - government, service providers, health professionals and users of SUS. Furthermore, it operates in the formulation of strategies and control over the implementation of health policies in the corresponding proceedings, including the economic and financial aspects, whose decisions are homologated by the head of the legally constituted power, ie, at the sphere of the federal government, by the Minister of Health. The resolutions that are not ratified, must be justified by the manager. If the disagreement remains, may be appealed to the Public Prosecutor.
In turn, the Conferences have a periodicity of four years, also represented by various segments of society, to assess the health situation and propose guidelines for the formulation of health policy.
In the country, the Conferences, in practice, gained greater visibility and impact, from the 8th National Conference on Health in 1986. Thus, four years before the regulation of this device, as a deliberative instance of community participation.
In this 15th National Health Conference aims to rescue its massive, popular, mobilizing and purposeful character, returning to the social and political relevance of past conferences, which over time has been moving away from the interest of the community and the purpose it was created.
In 2015, the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) will complete 25 years of regulations and the National Council of Health will hold the 15th National Conference on Health. In their youth, the Brazilian SUS is a legal guarantee that Every citizen, in the country has access to the health system and with equity within their territory of residence, regardless of gender, sexual orientation or gender identity, believes, ethnicity, age or physical, economic or social condition.
In this core, the National Conference on Health is a collegiate instance, nationwide, with representatives from government, service providers, health professionals and users to make an assessment of the 25 years of legal SUS, its achievements and its challenges; likewise formulate guidelines to maintain the achievements and overcome the challenges of their operational day-to-day life of the Brazilian people.
Representative democracy needs to be more horizontal and resolute, facing the practices and privatizing, corporate, clientelistic and patrimonial interests on public policy. We need to reaffirm, with these spaces of the Conferences, which public policy is for the people and with the people. Therefore, comply with the resolutions of the Conference on Health is a responsibility of public administration of the state in provision of healthcare at all levels and degrees of complexity of network services.
The collective efforts of the whole society, Universities, social and other organized movements is crucial to this social involvement device. The 15th National Conference on Health can provide support to the preparation of the National Health Plan, between 2016 to 2020.
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
Jul-Sep 2014
