Implementation of the Indigenous Health Policy: an ethnographic analysis of healthcare practices in the Upper Solimões River

Abstract

This study analyzes the implementation of the Indigenous Health Policy, focusing on the care practices of health teams of the Indigenous Health Care Subsystem in the Upper Solimões River in the Amazon region. Using ethnography as a methodological resource, the dynamics among participants, discourses, and power in the implementation of the policy are investigated, revealing a complex interconnection between practices and other contextual realities. Three phenomena emerge as critical influences on care practices: the medical-care model, the sanitation model, and the culture of performance. The medical-care and sanitation models are perpetuated. The culture of performance introduces a control paradigm based on quantitative indicators and pre-defined goals, affecting professional identity, social interactions, and the effectiveness of actions. On the margins of the institution, other daily practices are induced by temporal needs, subjective feelings, and local networks of power, thus challenging social structures and conventions. The Indigenous Health Policy was reformulated by practices influenced by old policies and was remodeled by techniques induced by bureaucracy, distancing itself from its ideological agenda.

Key words:
Indigenous health services; Health policy; planning and management; Healthcare models