Abstract
Recent policy guidelines have supported the completion of the decentralization processes regarding the access to HIV diagnosis. Through follow-up of a decentralization project in the city of Porto Alegre-RS, this study proposes an analysis of the paradoxical dimension of the territory and of the processes of stigmatization regarding access to the HIV diagnosis in the context of Primary Health Care. The theoretical and methodological approach was founded on the analytical and institutional perspective and the methodological strategies involved observation, focal groups and interviews with professionals of a Family Health Unit, users of the health care system, a professional of the matrix support team, and a manager of the STD-Aids policies in the city. Analysis evidence the paradoxical dimension of the territory and its implications regarding the professional practices and public policies. Finally, it presents the notion of multiterritories as a way to conceive multiple possibilities of access to HIV diagnosis.
Keywords:
HIV; AIDS; stigma; primary health care; institutional analysis